The Barrie Police Service is recruiting officers to fill vacancies left by retirements and natural attrition that occurred in 2021, but this time the Service is looking for applicants who already have experience as a sworn police officer.
“Hiring experienced officers into our Service offers immediate benefits to our front-line response,” said Sergeant Jason Frye with the Barrie Police Service Recruiting Unit. “Officers that have established their careers in environments where they’ve dealt with a high volume of calls, and a wide variety of calls, give our Service a resource to draw from with confidence.”
Recruiting experienced officers allows the Service to deploy the new hires more quickly into our community. Experienced officers have already attended the Ontario Police College, they’ve already spent time with a coach officer, and have experience with different types of calls and occurrences.
Officers who are chosen to join the Barrie Police Service will still spend two weeks working with the Service’s Training Unit to become familiar with specific procedures and policies, as well as four weeks with a partner to become familiar with the mobile workstation, the radio procedures and the layout of the city itself, but the turnaround time from hiring to full deployment is much shorter.
Sergeant Frye knows first-hand what it’s like to join the Barrie Police Service as an experienced officer. After spending eight years as a constable with the Toronto Police Service, the Simcoe County resident joined the Barrie Police Service in 2006.
“For me, it was the improvements to my family life that made the biggest difference,” said Frye. “I was able to be more involved in my kids’ schools and in my community without the long commutes to Toronto. My experience benefitted the Barrie Police Service, and I was able to experience a different style of more community-focused policing. I really noticed a positive change in day-to-day quality-of-life.”
As a waterfront community with easy access to cottage country and winter recreation opportunities, there are countless attractions in and around Barrie. With many big-city amenities such as Georgian College, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, a top-ranked OHL team the Barrie Colts, and multiple city-run recreation centers, there’s something for everyone in our community.
For those interested in applying to join the Barrie Police Service as an experienced officer, applications are being accepted until Sunday, February 27. Applicants selected for the next round of the recruiting process will still be required to pass additional screenings including a competency-based interview, a questionnaire to test their knowledge of the Barrie community, as well as a fitness test. It is hoped that the successful candidates could be on the road as soon as June 2022.
For more information, or to apply as an experienced officer, please visit https://www.barriepolice.ca/experienced-officers/