The Virtual Recruiting Seminar
Kevin McQuiggin is a computer guy from way back. He specialized in computing and mathematics at Simon Fraser University and cut his teeth on mainframes that used punch cards and paper tape. The 26-year veteran of the VPD spent nearly four years as the force's IT director before moving to the Forensic Services Section, which includes units for investigating all manner of high-tech crimes. But even though he's spent the last four years on the operational side of the Department now, he still has IT in his blood.
"I've always been interested in what's happening on the Web and I'm always exploring new technologies as they come out," he said. "When I heard about the virtual reality world of Second Life I thought it sounded interesting and gave it a try about a year and a half ago. It's a great application for meetings, collaboration and communication, and it occurred to me that we should try holding a recruiting seminar in this environment."
Created by Linden Research, Second Life is a three-dimensional virtual world that largely mimics our own. Millions of people around the globe participate in it, creating avatars that act as their persona, interacting with others, buying and selling goods and services using Linden dollars (which can be exchanged for real currency), and even acquiring virtual land, where they can build, live and entertain.
McQuiggin reasoned that holding a virtual recruiting seminar in Second Life would be a good way to differentiate the VPD from other law enforcement agencies and reach out to tech-savvy young applicants. "Tech-savvy police officers are key to the success of future investigations. As society changes, policing has to change as well," said McQuiggin. "We're going to have to have more officers that understand Facebook, YouTube, instant messaging and all these technologies because crime will naturally migrate to these environments, just like it has with things like fraud on the Internet."
As in most other organizations around the world, these new technologies are not well understood by senior management at the VPD, and selling the idea of a virtual reality recruiting seminar wasn't easy to do. Adding to the difficulty was the lack of experience by recruiters in new technologies, and lack of expertise in this area in the IT department.
Fortunately the VPD's Chief Constable, Jim Chu, had a solid background in technology and was quite supportive. A past Chair of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police Informatics Committee, Chu argued convincingly for the increased use of IT in all aspects of policing in his book Law Enforcement Information Technology, published by CRC Press in 2001.
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