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The Western Conservation Law Enforcement
Academy
Anyone in the business of training law
enforcement officers understands that it is a crucial undertaking for any
agency, and exacts a significant time commitment and substantial resources –
both human and financial. The notion that employees have a right to the
safest possible work environment and that the taxpaying public demand these
positions of authority and trust be occupied by professionals lies at the
heart of it. The concept of due diligence has thrust training into the
number one spot as the single most important factor when the work done by
law enforcement officers is brought into question. Consequently, every
aspect of a training program is analyzed through a microscope. Agency
administrators, Human Resource managers, Occupational Health and Safety
professionals, legal teams and, of course, the public recognize that good
training is critical. As training systems evolve with the changing work
environment, delivery has become a major factor in establishing a high
performance level within officer ranks. It also has an impact on recruitment
and budgets. Unlike traditional enforcement organizations that recruit by
the dozens, conservation law enforcement agencies in Canada are small
(usually less than 150 members per jurisdiction) and face another dilemma
entirely; individually, they don’t recruit enough members each year to make
an academy-style training model feasible. This reality forces agencies to
relinquish more resources for less return as training is delivered to small
groups of recruits over a longer period of time.
Recognizing the problem, western Canadian
natural resource law enforcement chiefs set up a small working group (with
representation from Yukon, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British
Columbia) to determine the feasibility of establishing a centralized, cross
province training program for conservation law enforcement recruits. As a
result, the Western Conservation Law Enforcement Academy was created and is
currently underway at the Hinton Training Centre. The 16- week program is
being delivered to 26 new recruits from British Columbia, Alberta and
Saskatchewan, and augments their post secondary education in the natural
sciences and conservation law enforcement. Other jurisdictions are
monitoring this project with interest and have stated their intentions of
becoming involved in the future.
THE PROJECT IS BEING USED TO EXAMINE:
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A single-source delivery mechanism for training,
assessments and preliminary screening;
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Common screening standards (educational, medical,
psychological, physical and background checks);
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Common training standard to meet participating agency
needs and officer training requirements (i.e. the most rigorous standard
has become the baseline);
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Cost effective delivery to minimize impacts to
provincial training budgets, resources and staff;
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Establishment of a greater pool of trained candidates,
flexible and qualified to work in multiple agencies;
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Risk, liability and cost sharing.
Results from this project will be used to test
assumptions regarding levels of learning, methodology, delivery mechanisms
and costs. The project is being closely monitored throughout its delivery
and a post delivery assessment will be conducted to provide additional
information and analyses. Lessons learned will be used to determine how
training may be delivered in the future. 
Daniel Boyco is a member of the
Alberta Game Warden Association in Edmonton.
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