A recent Sarnia police seminar aimed at increasing the number of female officers, has produced its first successful candidate.
Women in Policing, hosted December 1, 2018, saw nearly 100 women register and 60 women take part.
Participants learned the ins and outs of policing, including the physical requirements needed to be an officer and tips on how to successfully move through the hiring process.
Chief Norm Hansen said that session is already having an impact.
"The first successful candidate that had attended the Women in Policing day that we did has just been hired as a court security special constable, and she is actually wanting to be a police officer, so she's over there for now and hopefully one day we'll have her right on the streets."
Sgt. Jamie McCabe said about 10 percent of the 111 officer complement is female -- the goal is to push that figure closer to the Ontario average of 20 percent.
She said city police held a second information session earlier this year for anyone interested in policing.
"So our hope is that through these recruiting sessions that we become more diverse. So by opening it up to everyone we get different cultures, different races, just a more diverse service for the community so that we can reflect the community better."
Sgt. McCabe said they're looking at doing the sessions at least once a year going forward.
