New police chief ’s first job may be return to school

Rules suggest a foreign candidate would need to complete Ontario’s law enforcement training

If Toronto picks an international candidate to head the country’s largest municipal police force, his or her first job would be going back to school with a class of raw recruits.

Would-be police chiefs in the province are required to be police officers who have completed the Ontario Police College’s 60-day basic constable training program — or its equivalency in another province — in addition to being a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services expects that an individual appointed as a police officer in Ontario “who has only received police training from outside of Canada would be required to successfully complete the entire Basic Constable Training Program within six months of his or her appointment,” spokesman Andrew Morrison wrote in an email sent last week. The next set of classes begins in May. The course, taught at the college in Aylmer in southwestern Ontario, offers recruits a mix of academic and skills training.

They learn the law, defensive tactics, firearms instruction and how to drive a police car.

The deadline for would-be chiefs to apply is Feb. 20, then the recruiters will produce a shortlist for the police board

Last July, after announcing that Chief Bill Blair would complete his term of office in April 2015, the Toronto Police Services Board began the process of recruiting and selecting a new chief.

Executive search firm Odgers Berndtson is in the midst of conducting a “broad and international search to identify the best person to lead the Toronto Police Service,” board chair Alok Mukherjee said in a statement last month.

The deadline for applications is Feb. 20. The recruiters will produce a shortlist that will be turned over to the seven-member board. Mayor John Tory is a member.

Since July, Mukherjee has repeatedly stated that the board wants Toronto’s next top cop to be an innovative and recognized leader in the policing community, even if that means picking someone from outside the department’s ranks or the province’s borders.

Last month, recruiters placed a job listing for chief, Toronto Police Service, in the Globe and Mail and on websites belonging to several Canadian policing associations. It also appears on the job board of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, alongside ads for chiefs in Paradise Valley, Ariz., Mission Viejo, Calif., San Antonio, Texas, and the Town of Duck in North Carolina.

The ad extols Toronto as “one of the most livable and vibrant cities in the world,” and encourages “recognized leaders in the policing community” to apply for the position, which pays about $360,000 a year.

The Toronto Police Association has questioned the wisdom of the board bringing in an external candidate unfamiliar with the city’s policing challenges. Mukherjee did not return requests for comment. The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police expects and would “absolutely insist” that any officer hired by an Ontario police service would have to fulfil the requirements of the province’s Police Services Act, “anyone appointed to the rank of chief of police,” said Joe Couto, the association’s director of government relations and communications.

The board wants someone renowned and innovative even if he’s not from Toronto