Policing a reliable and rewarding job
Sgt. Kevin Torvik of the Vancouver Police Department says when an officer is working in District 1 and the office is Stanley Park or English Bay, days on the job can seem pretty spectacular.
But it’s obviously not the scenery that draws people to policing, he says.
“I firmly believe that it’s a calling — a career destination, not a career option,” he says. “And if you have that calling, that desire to help people and make a difference, there are over 100 different positions within the VPD for a constable alone.”
Torvik joined the VPD at age 29, after attending Simon Fraser University and spending a few years in Japan.
Following training, he patrolled the city’s Downtown Eastside as a beat cop, joined the drug unit and did undercover work, then went into the gang unit and dealt with outlaw motorcycle gangs and organized crime.
Upon his promotion to sergeant, Torvik moved to the recruiting unit, where he works today.
“Once you’ve done a few years on patrol, you may choose your career path and branch off into specialty units — that’s the beauty of the job,” he says.
It’s a tremendous career that offers a multitude of professions within the profession, agrees Insp. Dave Quigley, manager of recruitment with the Ontario Provincial Police, who has held more than a dozen different jobs and been involved “in great criminal investigation cases” during his 24 years with the organization.
“Policing also offers the opportunity to communicate with and serve people,” he says. “You get a real sense of satisfaction when you’re helping someone in need — whether they’re at their best or their worst — and can make a difference in their lives.”
The career options and the opportunity to make a difference are what interest 23-year-old Desiree Craig. A Metis who grew up in what she calls a difficult family environment, she wants to help others through policing because of what she experienced as a child.
Craig volunteered with Vancouver’s Collingwood Community Policing Centre in Grade 12, when she participated in her first police ride-along.
She subsequently enrolled in a two-year criminology degree at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C.
In 2013, Craig completed the VPD’s aboriginal cadet program, a summer employment initiative for aboriginal youth aged 19 to 29 that began in 2007. The program is designed to help participants learn about policing first-hand with the ultimate goal of identifying prospective applicants for the department, Torvik says. The regimen includes a twoweek canoe journey during which participants visit aboriginal groups along the route, speaking with elders and at-risk youth.
For Craig, it provided an opportunity “to get a foot in the door of the VPD, to let them see the type of person that I am, and to give back to my community,” she says.
In April, she will graduate from VPD’s community safety officer and jail guard training program and will be working parttime with the city’s jail system, and is working toward her goal of becoming a uniformed police officer.