Serve and Protect After Attending Police Foundations

If you’re looking to attend a Police Foundations program that not only prepares you for a career in police and police-related fields but also allow you a smooth transition to further education, don’t look any further than Centennial College. By attending this offering, students can transition to programs at University of Guelph-Humber, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and Utica College - University of Syracuse. In addition, after two years, students are ready to go onto enjoy careers as police officers, customs officers, security officers and more. Graduates are well prepared to apply for positions with the Provincial Police Services, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Armed Forces and more.

But how exactly does this Police Foundation offering prepare students for all these options? First and foremost, to apply students are required to have completed at minimum an Ontario Secondary Diploma or equivalent or be 19 years of age or older. In addition, they must have compulsory English 12C or U credits or skills assessment or equivalent. English proficiency will also be considered and a program information session may be required. Applicants should also know that some Police Foundation experiences might require a criminal reference check.

Aside from academic requirements, students should have no criminal record, must possess a valid driver’s license with a clean driving record and must have valid first aid and/or CPR certification. In addition, there are physical requirements such as: vision checks, standard normal hearing, physical fitness and readiness for the Physical Readiness Evaluation for Police (PREP) test. Lastly, applicants for police services careers in Ontario must be able to pass a security clearance, background investigation and credit and reference checks.

Once students enter the Police Foundation program, they are stationed on Progress Campus and enjoy intense training equivalent to that of a paramilitary environment, which helps them to develop discipline and deportment. All of the courses in this offering are based on real-life experiences and case studies that incorporate a fundamental perspective on life. These courses include: Canadian Criminal Justice System, Issues in Diversity, Criminology for Policing, Current Criminal Justice, Interviewing and Investigations, Fitness and more. Philip Sampo, a professor in the offering, describes one other integral part of the Police Foundation program. “We now have a course called Police Prep that we’ve integrated into our program, which assists you in actually getting through all of the testing that you’ll be required to do,” he says.

Assisting students with their learning are hands-on experiences, such as giving evidence in a simulated courtroom. This is achieved in a simulated courtroom that was built on the Centennial College for the specific purpose of training Police Foundation students.

“We also want them to know what it means if you’re at a crime scene and you’re investigating, what it is that’s truly important to be preserving and looking for. When you’re doing something like community-based policing, we want them to know how to dissect a problem. All of these things are some of the main focuses we try to get across to our students,” sums up Sampo.