Students at Nipissing University had the rare opportunity to welcome the OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes for a special lecture about the challenges faced in modern policing. Hawkes presented to dozens of students Thursday night, taking questions and commentaries.
“I always love getting out and speaking to young students,” he said. “And the feedback is good. I’m going to talk to them about the challenges we face as an organization, the challenges we face in modern policing, the challenges we face in our society, whether it’s cyber crime, or the evolution of crime and how that impacts our society. It’s one of the number one issues when it comes to the future challenges in the law enforcement side.”
During his presentation, he provided insight into the OPP’s strategic priorities as they transform operations to meet the service delivery needs for today and the future. Current criminal justice/policing issues such as the cost of policing and community safety and well-being, use of force, public trust, social media, impacts of the cyber world and other issues were also addressed.
Hawkes said it was important to have these discussions with young students, who are living through these technological changes and have a different approach to policing situations.
“The young mind thinks differently, they understand the technology and ask the right questions,” Hawkes said. “They think differently of policing in this modern age. Modern policing requires a whole different skillset, these students come to our society with a different mindset when it comes to dealing with policing issues.”
More so, Hawkes said these lectures help dispel any misconceptions students might have about policing as well as open up doors for career opportunities.
“There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to policing,” he said. “Those are some of the things worthwhile to spend the time to explain to students so they have a better understanding or they’re in a position to look for career choices.”
He said in the past, they would look for ways to transfer police officers into pilots, for example, whereas now, they have no issues diversifying their organization and looking for pilots first.
“We don’t necessarily need police officers,” he said. “It saves money and it makes things easier, making us able to diversify out skill sets. It’s the ability to think beyond what a uniformed police officer represents. We don’t necessarily need police officers to fill those roles, it’s not cost effective and we want to modernize our police force.”
Hawkes also said when the OPP looks as these evolving challenges, they must consider the unique issues faced by specific regions—like in Northern Ontario.
“Northern Ontario actually has a different set of challenges due to geography,” he said. “They have to do with duration components, officers in smaller communities for long periods of time. We have programs that cover all that to help officers come up here and quickly learn what they need to for the region.”
Hawkes, who received an honorary degree from Nipissing in 2015, after becoming OPP commissioner in 2014, was elevated, September 2016, in the Order to Commander, the highest level.
His career in the OPP stretches back to 1984, and since then, Commissioner Hawkes has amassed an array of cross command operational policing experience, particularly in frontline service delivery, investigative disciplines and forensic science.
