New Anishinabek Police website helps communities stay safe while recruiting new officers
By Kelly Anne Smith
NIPISSING FIRST NATION – The Anishinabek Police Service (APS) has added a Staying Safe bundle to its award-winning website.
The Staying Safe pull-down menu began on September 29 for culturally appropriate, actionable information offered on important issues and concerns.
Since the APS website launched July 15, nearly 9,000 users have visited the site and interacted with content over 80,000 times. The APS serves 16 communities.
Sergeant Chantal Larocque of APS’ media and recruitment unit is pleased the new website is constantly being viewed and is easy for potential new police officers to apply.
“In recruitment right now, with everything being so competitive, essentially every police service in Canada is hiring. How do we stay competitive if we have an outdated website that can’t be properly viewed on a mobile device? Which is just a reality of how people are functioning now. I did some research into a website. That’s how this all got started. I found one company was Indigenously-owned.”
The APS website was developed in collaboration with the Indigenous, women-owned Design DePlume agency based in Sudbury, Ont. In particular, Sergeant Larocque liked the site they had created for UCCM (United Chiefs & Councils of Manitoulin Anishnaabe Police Service).
“I know UCCM staff really well and said, ‘Do you mind if we go with the same company, but we’ll change the look’ and they were fine with that. But that was what drew me to that company is I quite like the cultural look and content of UCCM’s page. Later in the process, we hired a corporate communications person full-time. Collaboration is great. You can come up with greater ideas such as the Staying Safe page.”
Sergeant Larocque says her favourite part of the website is the Quick Escape button. She talks about a scenario in which a woman, a kwe, could be sitting at home and possibly subjected to domestic violence or human trafficking.
“You’re not too sure what you can do when you are on our page. And you panic because someone enters the room, whether it be a partner or an abuser. When you click the Quick Escape, it brings you to just a google browser, just a generic browser and erases the history of where you were and what you were looking at on our page. That’s such an awesome tool for people who have that fear and know that we have that option. If they are googling or monitored by anyone, they can quickly exit without any concerns.”
Sergeant Larocque points out the comprehensive Supports page of the site, which is complimented with Ed Regan’s photography.
“I know when the deputy chief (Julie Craddock) came on board, she wanted to have a section where people could access supports that already exist. None of these are our own. They are all through other agencies. What a great place to go to seek those supports,” she said. “The imagery for me was important. It’s about what you see as well. And it’s about healing. It has to be culturally sensitive and appropriate. And there’s a sense of comfort when you’re scrolling through, when you go through it with the Smudge Bowl and the medicines.”
For potential new police officers, Sergeant Larocque says the website is easier to navigate the application process.
“It’s really streamlining it for applicants. And it’s saving me and anyone in HR (human resources) to explain the process because it’s laid out. It really has made it easier for the front-end user like the applicant. We previously had firewall issues so people would apply and it might not even get to us. Now we have a notification if someone has applied,” says Sergeant Larocque. “That’s a game changer… Especially for women. Women going in looking at supports or working on picking something for school. They might say, ‘This might be a really good police service for me as an Indigenous woman.’ We’re only going to increase our applicants by having a better website.”
Sergeant Larocque hopes community members take a minute to check out the website.
“There’s something for almost everyone in there. It’s only getting better. If you ever thought of policing, please call. Any barriers you think you might have that won’t permit you to apply, definitely reach out to us. I guarantee you, most of them we can break down, we can work with. We would love to have you on our team at APS.”
The APS website has been recognized with two MarCom awards. The MarCom Awards is an international competition for outstanding achievement by creative professionals involved in the concept, direction, design, and production of marketing and communication materials. Ed Regan, of Regan Pictures and the external design partner, Design DePlume Creative, share the accolades of the MarCom awards. The APS website was also granted two dotCOMM Awards in August for excellence in web creativity and digital communication.