Dom B

Just one other thing. A lad at work is just waiting for his start date at Calgary. He says that they have just had their new pay rise awarded and he reckons that because of the impending pay rise the wage for 5 years uk service is going up to $80,000.

Is this the case in Edmonton? He also reckons they've agreed brilliant terms such as 1hr protected training time per shift and a 4 on 4 off shift pattern agreed! Do any of the EPS lads know about this or is it different from force to force?

Pompeyboy

With EPS the only benefit of 5+ years UK service is the payscale. You have to wait years for a course and years more for promotion. Calgary I believe is different.. Do your two years and move on!

ann m

Calgary had a new pay award in January 08 and this takes the salary (for the experienced ex-UK officer) to just over $75,300 ish. I'm not aware of any new award any time soon. Pay scales are set by the each city, it's not a provincial or federal decision - but they do mostly keep in line with each other.

At the end of September, Calgary roll out a 4-on, 4-off shift pattern. It is (mostly) 12 hour shifts and mostly follows a "two-days, two-nights, four days off" rotation. There are a few anomolies in there, with one five-day long weekend thrown into the mix, but that's roughly what is happening.

ann m

I beg to differ ! Maybe in theory ! I suspect you are looking at a minimum of three to four years in reality. Lots of networking to be done in that time.

Pompeyboy

Maybe for the courses you could push it lower but for promotion its a minimum of 7 years before you are eligible with EPS. Not sure about Calgary I just heard it was less there.. Does that make better sense than my last reply?

Pompeyboy

In fact there is an officer who had 10+ years service with EPS who left and did another 10 years with LAPD where he made it up to Staff Sergeant and then came back to EPS. They did not recognise his rank and he is back to being a constable. Apparently its an Edmonton Police Association thing! To me is seems to be a complete waste of experience.

ann m

Semi-teasing pompeyboy. One's previous experience in whatever field is not particularly recognised as valid and useful here - one simply needs to get used to that idea and must therefore start networking asap to get known and 'appreciated' for your worth - you must prove yourself all over again, and perhaps to a higher level just to get an "in". That's how I see it anyway - others may have a very different view

ann m

But it's not local experience, innit?

Pompeyboy

And I guess thats how they see it too...but in my humble opinion and from waht I have seen over the last 14 months working here, policing is exactly the same here as it was in England..the only real differences being;
1). The officers are generally fitter.
2). We fill out different forms and write reports differently than we did in England.
3). We carry a pistol.

Other than that its not much different which makes me feel that they could make better use of the experience, be it local or otherwise.

I do appreciate the need to prove yourself to new colleagues but that would be the same as changing forces in England.

Over to you.

ann m

PM sent !

Dom B

Cheers folks, do try not to fall out ha ha ha!

Very useful information. Like i said, i'm not too bothered about having to work hard and earn my worth, i think most people are the same, i was just wondering. thanks

I heard a nasty little point today that i HOPE is not true, and from what i've found on the EPS website and on here i've certainly not seen or heard any evidence that suggests it's true but hopefully you can say for definate that this is not the case. A lad i know said that one of his good friends is going to canada (i know it's a big country but bear with me) and that he doesn't get paid for his training....??? I personally think my mate's got it wrong

Like i say, none of you have mentioned this and i can't find it on the EPS website, so i can't see it being right, but can you just confirm that you do get paid while you're at the training academy / school etc? As in from the moment you start work with EPS they pay you 2 weeks later (or summat).

Dom

ann m

We haven't fallen out at all - I think we both agree hugely

Some provinces, you have to pay for your training
But certainly not for Calgary, and I believe it's the same for Edmonton. You are paid from day one and throughout your training, and will most likely receive your first slip about three weeks in ('cos from an admin point of view, you will probably have maybe just missed one week, then need to wait another couple of weeks).

Dom B

Thanks for that,

Like i say, I thought it would have "cropped up" somwhere earlier on here and seen as it didn't i was almost sure it was the case as you say! Plus, there's nothing i (or a colleague of mine who is now considering the move instead of OZ) could find on Edmonton Police that suggested this.

I know you not falling out, we're all friends here innit?

Thanks again
Dom

brentus

what have you all done with your pensions and is there a choice as to what you can do?

ann m

Good pension info on this thread here ...