Ottawa/IBNS: The Ontario government is boosting police recruitment numbers by eliminating tuition fees of police training, and scrapping a post-secondary education requirement to be hired as an officer.

“We need more police officers on our streets, more boots on the ground,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said at a news conference at the Ontario Police College.

The Ford government will introduce legislation that would amend the Community Safety and Policing Act 2019 in requiring just a high school diploma or equivalent for recruiting new police officers.

Currently, post-secondary education credit is required by the applicants to municipal police services for employment as an officer.

“Ontario is grateful to the thousands of brave women and men who serve as police officers across the province, keeping our communities safe…push back the growing tide of crime in our communities expanding enrollment at the Ontario Police College and covering 100 percent of the tuition cost for Basic Constable Training,” Ford has said in a news release.

Currently the cost of the three-month program is $15,450 and the new police officers are required to complete it within six months of being hired.

Welcoming the changes, Demkiw was reported saying that the Toronto Police Service is having difficulty “keeping up with the increasing demands” of a growing city.

“Like police services across Canada, we are working hard to recruit…constables. But this takes time and there are often barriers to getting new officers deployed…We need support in recruiting and training and welcome the news from the province,” Demkiv told reporters.

With the expansion of enrolment at the college, starting in 2024, the number of graduates from the college will increase from the current three cohorts of 480 officers to four cohorts of 550 officers.

Solicitor General Michael Kerzner hoped the changes will encourage more people “from all walks of life and backgrounds” to join the force.

According to the news release, the elimination of the tuition fee for the Basic Constable Training program at the Ontario Police College will be retroactive to January 1, 2023 and recruits who paid for their twelve-week Basic Constable Training earlier this year will be reimbursed.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)