Future officers PREP for careers

Posted on 30. Oct, 2007 by Archivist in News

Some of Toronto’s future police women pose in the gym where their testing took place.
photo by jeff wimbush

Women hoping for a career in law enforcement got a taste of what they will have to do through a series of endurance tests.
The Physical Readiness Evaluation for Police, or PREP, includes upper body strength, endurance and agility tests.
The tests included a beep test,  getting over fences, a handcuff simulator and the ‘dummie drop’, where participants must drag  dummies through a series of pylons.
Staff Sgt. Riyaz Hussein said he was pleased with what he saw at the session for women interested in policing at Humber Lakeshore campus last Saturday.
Hussein said of the 27 women who attended, there were about eight who were physically “right there and ready to go,” while others needed only a couple months of training.
Hussein and three Toronto recruiting officers spoke to the women about the application process and answered questions.
The women experienced the tests first hand.
Analia Burgos said she’s interested in a career in law enforcement and this is the first step she has taken since learning about the session.
She was happy she went because it gave her an idea of  areas that need improvement.
 “It’s kind of harder than I thought it’d be,” Burgos said.
Rebecca Gallagher said she was glad to get a chance to see what the tests are like.
Gallagher said she had a PREP test scheduled for this week, and she wanted to get some practice before doing the real thing.
Beverly Tang said she jumped at the opportunity when she heard about the session.
Tang said it makes it easy when the police take the first step because calling the cops out of the blue can be intimidating.
Tang also said she went to the session to see how many other women showed up.
Forty women signed up for the session and 27 attended.
Police Const. Gail Steed said sessions like this are important because the Toronto Police Service strives for diversity. Steed said they want the police to accurately represent the people of Toronto.
Three Humber students assisted the police with running the session. Damian Hanson, Zack Melerowicz and Amit Chail are all part of the Rover program at Humber Lakeshore. The  program is an internship where police foundations students work with police officers in the field.

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