Research
This page showcases research from members of our community. If you would like your work to be featured, please contact us.
All Research
Competency-Based Management Framework for Canadian Policing
For the first time in over a decade, Canada’s policing competencies have undergone a major overhaul—and the result is transformative. Led by industry experts and national collaborators, the updated framework sharpens 52 competencies down to 22, reorganized into streamlined personal and leadership skill domains. This redesign delivers a clearer, more relevant, and future-ready foundation for recruitment, training, and professional development across police services.
CPKN Releases 2025 Annual Literature Review: Highlighting Key Trends in Policing
Dive into a fresh look at the most pressing trends influencing police education across Canada and the U.S. The 2025 review details open-access research from the past year into four powerful themes; from mental health and wellness to the expanding influence of emerging technologies. Whether you’re shaping policy, designing training, or leading organizational change, this snapshot offers evidence-based insights you won’t want to miss.
Equity Forward: Advancing Inclusion and Anti-Oppression Training in Policing
How can police services rebuild trust with communities that have long felt marginalized?
Equity Forward explores this urgent question by diving into the gaps, challenges, and untapped potential of diversity, inclusion, and anti-oppression training in Canadian policing. Partnering with two innovative Ontario police services, this three year study examines real community concerns, co-develops tailored training, and evaluates its impact over time. Discover how this research aims to spark meaningful change and redefine what equitable policing can look like in Canada.
Applied Research for Safer Communities
The Centre for Public Safety Applied Research (CPSAR) at Lethbridge Polytechnic collaborates with over 43 justice-sector partners to address public safety challenges through applied research. With over 17 active faculty researchers, CPSAR supports evidence-based practices, student engagement, and community resilience.
Mental health training, attitudes toward support, and screening positive for mental disorders
Public Safety Personnel (PSP; e.g. correctional workers, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, police) are frequently exposed to potentially traumatic events (PTEs). Several mental health training program categories (e.g. critical incident stress management (CISM), debriefing, peer support, psychoeducation, mental health first aid, Road to Mental Readiness [R2MR]) exist as efforts to minimize the impact of exposures, often using cognitive behavioral therapy model content, but with limited effectiveness research. The current study assessed PSP perceptions of access to professional (i.e. physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, employee assistance programs, chaplains) and non-professional (i.e. spouse, friends, colleagues, leadership) support, and associations between training and mental health.
Exposures to Potentially Traumatic Events Among Public Safety Personnel in Canada
Canadian Public Safety Personnel (e.g., correctional workers, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, and police) are regularly exposed to potentially traumatic events, some of which are highlighted as critical incidents warranting additional resources. Unfortunately, available Canadian public safety personnel data measuring associations between potentially traumatic events and mental health remains sparse. The current research quantifies estimates for diverse event exposures within and between several categories of public safety personnel.