Through much of my time on the Journal‘s “cop desk,” criminologists, police officers and community workers in Edmonton linked rising crime to the province’s oil boom.
But my colleagues and I noticed another “boom” trend affecting the people we interviewed everyday at homicide scenes and house fires: A shortage of people interested in jumping into uniforms.
Over the course of a three-day series in 2007, Ryan Cormier, Elise Stolte and I investigated the issues, starting with a story called “Front lines stretched thin.” A centrepiece of our coverage was profiles of new recruits (you can read my story about a young police officer here).
Trish Audette-Longo 