Ep. 257: How the demands of policing are changing

Guest: Wally Oppal, former British Columbia Attorney General

Today’s police officer is a combination of crime fighter, detective, first responder and social worker who faces a myriad of crimes and criminals that didn’t exist a generation ago.

Terrorism and cyber crime are just a few of the new threats to the safety of any community that are on the rise and are extremely challenging to address.

At the same time, as Wally Oppal says, “The public has very high expectations of the police.” Expectations that in most cases Oppal says the police are meeting, “I think, in western democratic societies we probably have the best policing in the world and that is due in large part to the high level of qualifications and training that are needed to be a police officer in Canada.”

What is clear is the web of security forces that are now compelled to work together and coordinate their efforts is expanding. No one security system can meet the needs of society, business and industry and our ever changing requirement to guard against terrorism.

We invited Justice Wally Oppal, the man who is heading up the review on education and training of police officers in BC to join us for a Conversation That Matters about preparing law enforcement officers for their role over the next few decades.