(ORILLIA, ON) –As one of the largest deployed police services in North America, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is always hiring.  In fact, for the foreseeable future, as a result of hundreds of officers getting ready to retire, the OPP will be hiring even more police officers than usual.

The situation is providing the OPP with a rare opportunity to enhance its efforts at diversification by developing a virtual outreach and awareness strategy that is unique and innovative.

“We aren’t just looking for applicants who are interested in a policing career, said Inspector Bryan MacKillop, Director of OPP Recruitment, we are trying to link with individuals who know good people, reflective of their communities, who are looking for a career, but for whatever reason, systemic, cultural or otherwise, have yet to consider policing as a career option. We truly want to develop a community based approach to recruiting”.

To assist in achieving this, the OPP Recruitment Unit has enhanced the contents on its social media platforms with an aim to educate candidates on methods of improving their competitiveness and to attract anyone interested in professional development.

To showcase the OPP as an ideal career choice, recruiters will be providing unprecedented global access, via social media, to the OPP experience.

“We will purposefully open the doors to the public, on a global scale, eliminate  barriers to accessing what policing in the OPP is about, and invite the best qualified candidates to come serve our communities by joining a police service which is second to none” added MacKillop.  

To achieve this goal, the OPP will be using social media, in an unprecedented fashion, to smash down barriers ensuring that everyone everywhere has access to the information they need to develop informed decisions in regards to pursuing policing as a career option.

• Starting with a virtual ride-along on Wednesday February 03, 2016, (between 6-11PM) the public is invited to follow an officer on patrol, call-by-call on Twitter;
• On Wednesday February 10, 2016, a “Breaking Barriers” live-stream event will be hosted whereby OPP officers from varying social and cultural backgrounds will be sharing their experiences concerning  every step of their OPP career and;
• On Wednesday February 17, 2016, Commissioner Vince Hawkes will provide opening remarks to a live stream OPP Recruitment Information Session during which OPP Officers will discuss what it takes to be a competitive candidate.

All of these social media events will be live and interactive with viewers.   

Going forward, these social media activities will be recurrent and will enhance other general professional development information which Recruiting provides to our followers on all of our social media platforms.

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source: media release, OPP