The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) said the good news about recruitment is numbers have risen.However, the EPS said the better news is attrition numbers are on a downward trajectory. “We’re definitely on an upswing,” said EPS Training Development and Recruiting Division Supt. Andria Wasylyshen in a blog post. “We have increased our numbers to 630 applicants for 2023, which is significant.”Wasylyshen said that number is 200 more applicants than 2022. Right now, she said the EPS is “ahead of attrition, so that’s a huge win for the EPS.”For 2023, EPS said attrition was down by 12.4% in comparison to 2022. Attrition compares the number of employees who leave it versus the number of new recruits and hires coming in. Police services across North America struggled with recruitment and retention in 2020 and 2021. Wasylyshen acknowledged EPS' latest numbers show efforts to adapt and update programming are working. It reinstated its Experienced Police Officer Hire program and introduced a referral program that brought in 14 new officers in the last year. Additionally, it upped recruit classes from 30 to 50 people and revisited training and application processes. She said a number of changes have been made. “We have really focused on helping our applicants through the different steps that are mandated through the province like our fitness test,” she said. “It breaks it down so that it’s not so intimidating to them.”Since recruit classes are seeing a 93% success rate in the most recent ones, she said it is hiring the right people for the right reasons. The average percentage of diverse candidates in each recruit class is sitting at about 58%. For 2024, EPS predicted another increase to the sworn member head count and has hired 50 new officers and four experienced ones. Wasylyshen concluded by saying the pendulum “has swung in my opinion.”“I think it was at one point quite a low I do think that now we are rebounding from that and things are improving and I think we’re starting to see that,” she said. The Alberta government said in December it will be spending $8.3 million to enable the recruitment, training and deployment of 50 new EPS officers. READ MORE: Alberta government to fund 50 new Edmonton Police Service officers“They will be strategically stationed in high-crime areas such as the downtown core, transit corridors and other problem areas,” said Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis. “We know officer presence matters and having uniformed officers in these areas will help deter criminal activity and provide Edmontonians with a sense of safety and security as they go about their lives.”
The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) said the good news about recruitment is numbers have risen.However, the EPS said the better news is attrition numbers are on a downward trajectory. “We’re definitely on an upswing,” said EPS Training Development and Recruiting Division Supt. Andria Wasylyshen in a blog post. “We have increased our numbers to 630 applicants for 2023, which is significant.”Wasylyshen said that number is 200 more applicants than 2022. Right now, she said the EPS is “ahead of attrition, so that’s a huge win for the EPS.”For 2023, EPS said attrition was down by 12.4% in comparison to 2022. Attrition compares the number of employees who leave it versus the number of new recruits and hires coming in. Police services across North America struggled with recruitment and retention in 2020 and 2021. Wasylyshen acknowledged EPS' latest numbers show efforts to adapt and update programming are working. It reinstated its Experienced Police Officer Hire program and introduced a referral program that brought in 14 new officers in the last year. Additionally, it upped recruit classes from 30 to 50 people and revisited training and application processes. She said a number of changes have been made. “We have really focused on helping our applicants through the different steps that are mandated through the province like our fitness test,” she said. “It breaks it down so that it’s not so intimidating to them.”Since recruit classes are seeing a 93% success rate in the most recent ones, she said it is hiring the right people for the right reasons. The average percentage of diverse candidates in each recruit class is sitting at about 58%. For 2024, EPS predicted another increase to the sworn member head count and has hired 50 new officers and four experienced ones. Wasylyshen concluded by saying the pendulum “has swung in my opinion.”“I think it was at one point quite a low I do think that now we are rebounding from that and things are improving and I think we’re starting to see that,” she said. The Alberta government said in December it will be spending $8.3 million to enable the recruitment, training and deployment of 50 new EPS officers. READ MORE: Alberta government to fund 50 new Edmonton Police Service officers“They will be strategically stationed in high-crime areas such as the downtown core, transit corridors and other problem areas,” said Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis. “We know officer presence matters and having uniformed officers in these areas will help deter criminal activity and provide Edmontonians with a sense of safety and security as they go about their lives.”
