The police force in Saint John, New Brunswick is hosting a diversity recruitment camp to recruit officers for a community that is nine-tenths white.The Inclusion and Diversity Recruitment Camp will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 23 at Saint John Police Force's Peel Plaza headquarters. A police press release says potential minority hires will get a chance to interact with officers, learn about the roles in the force and gain "hands-on experience."Chief Robert Bruce told Brunswick News, "We're looking for people ... that are looking to find out what policing is all about and how they can serve their community." At a recent meeting of the Saint John Board of Police Commissioners, Bruce said local and provincial demographics "are ever changing and the expectations from our community for service continue to be higher."Bruce cited 2016 census data to say the city was 47.5% male and 52.5% female and 6.7% of residents identified as a visible minority."Our numbers are not consistent with that," Bruce said.Currently, 62% of the Saint John Police Force's 188 employees identify as male and 38% female, Bruce told the meeting, with an 80/20 male-female split among uniformed officers and a 7/93 male-female split among civilian staff. Two per cent of staff identified as visible minorities.Board member Charles Bryant speculated the visible minority stat from 2016 was "probably low," adding, "That's just a launching point for the discussion, right? Because we aren't even close to matching those numbers." The 2021 census numbers found 10.6% of Saint John residents identified as being a visible minority, with females accounting for 51.6% of all residents. Statistics Canada aggregates non-binary people into two-gender categories for confidentiality reasons.Bruce said the Saint John's police force remains at 2% visible minority despite three years of efforts otherwise."I think police agencies across the country face the same thing," Bruce replied. "Historically, we have waited for people to knock on our door and in Saint John in the last three years .... we're knocking on doors and we're getting really special candidates from our city."Bruce told Brunswick News that one out of three officers in the last recruiting class identified as a visible minority compared to two out of five in the previous class."We're working towards that, but the struggle is getting people interested in policing," Bruce said.Potential officers apply to the force and, after a recruiting process, are sponsored to the Atlantic Police Academy. They can return to the city for on-the-job development and are guaranteed a job upon graduation."Our recruiting doors are never closed," Bruce said."It gives you an opportunity to represent your community . . . If you're in one of those groups, you can bring a better understanding to policing."Bruce said it was good that his deputy chief Honey Dwyer is an indigenous woman."Everything she's gone through has enriched the department. I wouldn't be able to bring that," he said.Bruce said hiring people from underrepresented communities "makes your organization stronger" and helps non-whites trust the police."When we serve the public, people want to see someone that looks like them serving them," he said.In an email, retired Mountie Larry Comeau told the Western Standard an obsession with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) did not make policing better."Like with the RCMP, St. John Police should simply be honest and say in this ad that white males need not apply! I have visited St. John many times and its population is one of the whitest of any Canadian city! Disgusting that Trudeau’s divisive and racist DEI policy that is now destroying the RCMP is also infecting large municipal police departments!" Comeau said."Gone are the days when Canadian police departments sought the best qualified recruits available, now the sole criteria is skin colour and gender. DEI is a reason the RCMP is currently 1,000 recruits short!"
