Regional Police unveil new six-episode podcast series aimed at recruitment

A new podcast released by Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) is looking to help those who are looking to join their ranks.

The six-episode series called Into the Blue takes a behind-the-scenes look at two officers as they go through their daily jobs as officers with WRPS. It was created in partnership with the Ontario Police College in Aylmer, Ont.

One of the officers, Constable Elias Srouji, is a new hire with WRPS and follows his journey through the Ontario Police College and his first on-duty shift. The other officer, Constable Amanda Hutchings, is a five-year veteran of the service and follows her calls for service in the community.

Mark Araujo, a digital content coordinator with WRPS and one of the hosts of the podcast, said one of the big goals of the series is to help prepare applicants to get through the hiring process.

“Policing is a really difficult process and it’s really involved,” he said. “So we are trying to give them a ‘leg up’ in the process to really bring them up to that hire and welcome them on as a member. We are working really hard to hire and bring more people to the front lines for policing.

Constable Rachel Molner, who works in the WRPS recruiting unit, said the service is seeing an “uptick” in applications compared to last year after seeing a “downward turn” between 2020 and 2023.

“At this time last year, we had just under 350 applications, but at the end of June for this year we had just under 500,” said Molner. “We are hoping for projected to have over 800 applications by the end of the year.”

The series is available now on the WRPS website and other streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music and Youtube Music.