BTPS looking to expand

The Blood Tribe Police Service members are looking to expand their team with some experienced officers.

With its own dispatch unit, resource officer and crime reduction unit serving the largest reserve within Canada, it comes with a need to expand the squad this year.

“We are currently accepting applications for experienced police officers, which is ongoing until we find the right applicant,” says Farica Syrette, A/Inspector with the Blood Tribe Police Service.

“Policing as a profession is a hard-sell right now,” Syrette adds. “Because we are a smaller police service, we really feel these vacancies when we have them, but it also allows us to be really selective to make sure we are choosing the right person.”

The position which is open to people with two years of previous experience in the policing industry, is available to all applicants who meet the provincial recruitment standards and will go through a process of a screening interview, behavioural descriptive panel interview and polygraph and psychological exams.

However, there are added characteristics the Blood Tribe Police Service is looking for, says Syrette.

“We are looking for people who have specific skills, experience and knowledge in working with First Nations people. But that doesn’t necessarily mean someone must be Blackfoot or First Nation to apply, they can be of any race or from any country but we’re looking for people that have that in-depth understanding of First Nation people and communities.”

The First Nation Policing Program (FNPP) that was created in the 1990s is the foundation in which all First Nation police services are maintained or developed and is what the Blood Tribe looks to when recruiting experienced officers.

With half of the current Blood Tribe Police Service nonIndigenous, a quarter of Blackfoot heritage from Treaty 7 and the other quarter being Indigenous populations from outside of Treaty 7, the police service within the Blood Tribe is all-inclusive.