Saint John police have launched a recruitment campaign as they seek more volunteers for their auxiliary police program.
The longstanding program, which has been in place since 1999, is also expanding to include a non-uniform division.
Officials unveiled the details during a presentation at Tuesday’s monthly board of police commissioners meeting.
Staff Sgt. Sean Rocca said they recently completed a comprehensive review to look at enhancing the program.
“What we found really from the research and consultation and collaboration is that there really is an increased focus in auxiliary police programs with community engagement versus traditionally simply frontline policing or ride-along so to speak,” Rocca told committee members.
What do auxiliary members do?
Auxiliary police members help regular officers maintain public safety, engage with the community and promote crime prevention initiatives.
The new non-uniform division will support community engagement initiatives such as career fairs, community events, crime prevention initiatives and public education.
Rocca said they will also help with administrative engagement, with one of their focuses being quality assurance callbacks.
“These are calls to members of the public that have called into the police primarily for calls that did not result in files or reports that would go on to be investigated,” he said.
“Just making sure that they were satisfied with the service that they received from police. Is there anything else that you think we could have done better? Is there anything in general that you feel the Saint John police could do better in terms of service?”
Uniform volunteers also support community engagement initiatives in addition to law enforcement initiatives such as frontline police operations, traffic campaigns, search and rescue support, and large-scale evidence-based searches.
Force looks to recruit 25 more members
Rocca said their goal is to recruit 14 additional uniform auxiliary members for a total of 26, along with 11 new non-uniform members.
A total of 67 auxiliary members have graduated through the program to date, with around one-in-three transitioning to law enforcement.
Members must commit to the program for two years and be willing to volunteer for a minimum number of hours each year — 60 hours for non-uniform members and 100 hours for uniform members.
All volunteers will undergo a security clearance, financial and criminal record checks, as well as aptitude testing, a background investigation, a sustainability interview, and an integrity questionnaire and interview.
Uniform members will also undergo a medical assessment, fitness testing and a psychological assessment since they will be involved with law enforcement initiatives.
Initial training ranges from 35 hours for non-uniform volunteers to 63.5 hours for uniform volunteers, with ongoing training as required.
Rocca said they hope to complete the selection process by late March and have the new auxiliary members sworn in by June 1.
