Any comments welcome
My wife and I will fly out to Calgary on 24th March to spend a week hunting for an area to settle in. She will then fly back to tie up our house in the uk and I will stay on in digs to start my course with CPS on 12th April. We are looking at Cochrane, Okotoks and surrounding areas but are not set on any town so anything is a possibility. We have 3 children, (12 year old twins and a 7 year old, all boys) and getting them settled in school etc will be a priority). Can anyone offer any advice, comments on why they chose the area they live in, what to look for / avoid. Anyone willing for us to pop in for a cup of tea, (very British) so they can explain why they love the area they live in. Don't worry we will not have the kids with us. We have some idea of what we want out of our new, as yet undecided, home town but would welcome any thoughts, comments etc.
Many thanks
Tony Hughes.

Hi Tony 35 things seem to be sorting themselves out. I take it from your last thread that you have had your medicals and visa,s are through. My wife, daughter and myself are flying out on the 27th Feb. Our intentions are to buy a house in the Okotoks area and hopefully be in by the 12th April course. I have got my fitness test arranged for 13th March, have they given you a date yet for your fitness test or are you still within the 6 months of your last test.

hey
the drive from okotoks to calgary is around the 20 min mark, on a good day.
the southern districts (6 and 8) are full and have been for a while. there are 2 new areas opening at the north of the city which is where lots of people are being posted.
i would be cautious of this as the drive to the district 7 office will be about 60 mins from okotoks....

Hi Tony.

I have been over for around 18 months now with two boys aged 16 and 12 and we live in Okotoks. I will PM you with some contact details.

Coylesy

I would echo this, having lived in Okotoks previously. It takes approx 20 mins on a good day (good driving conditions) to reach the south of Calgary. Downtown and north of Downtown it will take alot longer.

We live in SW Calgary now, and even though I commute to the NE, it usually only takes 25 mins to get to work at 5am and approx 45 mins at 4pm.

It's all down to personal choice, however we found living in Okotoks an inconvenience. There is no public transit, property taxes are higher, less services, cost more in fuel to get to work, and it took longer to get to the mountains.

The main problem is that it will not be until later in your training that you will find which District you will be working out of, and like Paul5455 has said, you could potentially end up being posted to one of the northern districts.

The answer is to rent until you get a feel for the place and your training is done. Then look to buy in the area that best suits your families needs.
Don't worry too much about schools until the new year starts in sept as both my boys have found the school system much more relaxed than the UK so missing a bit of school or changing schools in summer won't set them back.

Coylesy

Hey Guy's

Have sent you an email

Gary...

Hi Tony,
I got your PM and I have sent you an email, I can help you with everything you asked.
Sam

Has anyone had, or is having trouble with passport requests. I had medicals on 6th January and sent passports in near the end of Jan but they got sent back stating I had sent them too early, (there was no indication when to send them i so I took the initiative). I have heard nothing since!! I have a start date of 12th April but this will be a problem if I don't get my passport in soon. Has anyone had a similar experience? Any advice? Has anyone had any luck contacting the Embassy direct. If I explain my situation to them will they be sympathetic to my cause. You can't get them on the phone, you just get a series or recorded messages. Help.

Tony,

I've just collected my passports from London, havng done my Meds on the 4th of Jan 2010. (Joining EPS).

When I had my Med requests there were clear instructions what to do with our passports after the Meds. From what I've read on here, you either have clear instructions to send your passports no earlier than 30 days after your Meds or no request at all, in which case, you have to wait for a request from London.

The instructions are clear, also, that if you send them to London before the 30 day period, it will slow the process.

I'm assuming you had no request to send in passports 30 days after Meds?

The only thing you can now do, is email London via the Web form on the CIC website asking for advice/instructions.

Regards

Nige

I had the same request as Nigel. I was informed to submit the passports 30 days after completion of the medicals (assuming everything is AIO). I'm sending the RPRF tomorrow to avoid any delays on that front.

Tim

does anyone in Calgary have a copy of the Beat Officers Companion?
Or
the little book (ours was yellow and black) which had common offences and stuff in?

Is there anyone still in the Calgary police service recruitment process? anyone with ideas on dates for this years recruitment classes?

April 12th which a few people are on.
Then one in September and maybe one in November.

So there is possibly 3 classes this year? I thought it was a definate 2.........but 3 would be good