CPC awaiting review completion in CPS and U.S. college relationship

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The Calgary Police Service will have no further affiliation with any unaccredited college in California while the department continues an investigation into its past relationship with the institute.

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The Calgary Police Commission said CPS was conducting an internal review of its relationship with the College of Certified Psychophysiologists after local media reports raised questions about the credibility of the institution.

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A statement from the commission on Wednesday said it had begun addressing the relationship during a private meeting and confirmed that CPS severed ties with the college on Aug. 31 after it was revealed three staff members had completed one Police Health Certificate, 16 members attended a two-day critical incident stress debriefing course and two staff members had enrolled in degree programs. Another CPS member should be awarded an honorary doctorate.

The CPS paid about $30,000 for the college’s education, the commission said.

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“We continue to have serious questions about how the service ended up paying for employees to earn degrees from an unaccredited college, especially when there is a policy prohibiting it,” said commission chairman Shawn Cornett. “Unfortunately, this incident has raised doubts among some staff about the quality of the mental health support available to them. We need to get to the bottom of what happened and restore trust in the system as soon as possible so that employees continue to seek that support when they need help.”

The commission said in the statement that a CPS policy requires in-house specialists to review all training programs members sign up for. An employee must create a learning plan that outlines the reasons why they should enroll in the training, what courses they will take, and how it relates to CPS business needs. This plan must be approved by a manager.

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Michael Nunn, a CPS spokesman, said the service has suspended all college affiliations. He said any instruction officers received were an addition to the skills and training that members had already received.

He said anyone providing mental wellbeing and direct care to officers would need training from recognized schools and meet the ethical requirements of national bodies. He said members of the Wellness and Resiliency Division of the services have at least a master’s degree in a clinical field and are in good standing with relevant professional membership organizations.

“CPS’ affiliation with the CCP should not discredit the qualifications of the staff who directly serve our members,” Nunn said. “CPS has one of the most comprehensive wellness and resilience programs in Canadian law enforcement, if not the most comprehensive.”

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Nunn said CPS consulted with the director of law enforcement, who advised police to pursue further investigations. He said an investigation would determine whether there had been any wrongdoing by CPS members and that the service would have no further dealings with the college.

dr Kelly Sundberg, Associate Professor at dThe Department of Business, Justice and Policy Studies said CPS’s decision to give money to the unaccredited organization for training, rather than partnering with local universities – like Mount Royal or the University of Calgary – was “embarrassing” and “worrying”. .

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“It’s about time the Calgary Police Department stopped looking elsewhere for educational services because they clearly don’t have the capacity to adequately select outside higher education institutions to partner with,” Sundberg said.

Sundberg said it’s legitimate for officials to have questions about the support they’ve received related to workplace mental health. He said professional bodies that oversee professions centered around mental health support should be included in the CPS review.

“If we really want to assess what harm, if any, or potential harm has occurred, I think the only people qualified to make such an assessment are these professional bodies,” Sundberg said.

Decisions on further action will be taken by CPS and the Commission after the review is completed.

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