Ottawa Police welcomes 21 new officers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, February 15, 2024   3:55 pm

(Ottawa) — The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) hosted a Badge Ceremony today to formally recognize 21 recruits hired in July 2023. The class was welcomed by Chief Eric Stubbs and Ottawa Police Services Board Chair Salim Fakirani.

The ceremony is an important part of recognizing the role of policing in the community and celebrating the individual successes of each officer.

The recruit class comes with a wealth of experience from their previous careers. These include Special Constables from the Ontario Provincial Police, OC Transpo, and the OPS, a military combat engineer turned advanced care paramedic, the federal, provincial and municipal public services, as well as complex community care, including crisis outreach and support for the vulnerable sector.

These recruits have volunteered with organizations that support our community's most fundamental needs, making people feel supported in all aspects of their lives, including housing and food, and motivating youth to pursue education and sports.

Of the 14 men and 7 women receiving their badges today, many have advanced education and degrees in criminology, communications, police foundations, child and youth services, and social sciences.

While several recruits were raised in Ottawa, others have ties across Canada and all around the world, including St. Catherines and Kingston, Ontario, Montreal and Gatineau, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg. Internationally, some of the recruits have lived experience in Nigeria, Congo, El Salvador, Peru and China.

In addition to English and French, 13 other languages are spoken by this recruit class. They include Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Somali, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Tajik, Lingala, Swahili, Yoruba, Farsi, Luri and Dari.

The Ottawa Police Service is hiring! For career opportunities, visit ottawapolice.ca. Follow our Recruitment Team on Instagram @ottawa_police_recruiting.

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 Through the Community Safety Data portal data.ottawapolice.ca, members of the public can view, download, and interact with data released by Ottawa Police Service. 

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