The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education and Toronto Police Service (TPS) announced a new academic partnership in a press release on Monday.
The program aims to modernize the police force and will teach officers to avoid bias in the field. While the course is optional and open to all members of the TPS, every slot immediately filled up as soon as members were informed.
Ryerson currently doesn’t offer any police courses, but that isn’t stopping The Chang School from offering classes. Marie Bountrogianni, dean of The Chang School, says that Ryerson created the course in response to a request from the TPS.
“While we may not have a program in policing, we have faculty and
instructors with a high level of expertise in the identified areas,” says Bountrogianni. As an urban university, we believe that it is our responsibility to contribute to Toronto’s social and cultural innovation.”
Sandra Buckler, strategic communications officer with the TPS, says that the new partnership will improve the existing training. since the Ryerson partnership doesn’t have the capacity to enroll all TPS members.
Buckler says the program focuses on a variety of areas, including human resources management, organizational behaviour, finance and accounting, project management, writing and research, bias avoidance, and community engagement.
The courses will be taught by Ryerson faculty members and officers can earn credits for either organization. The partnership will also facilitate research opportunities for both Ryerson and the TPS.
“The goal [of the plan] will be further professionalization and active accountability by leveraging Ryerson’s ability [to bring] more academic rigour, additional training mechanisms, and research to create new and relevant learning opportunities,” Buckler says.
The courses will take place at the Toronto Police College in South Etobicoke and will run until the end of March 2018.