Developed with police services and delivered by CPKN, the Vancouver Large Event Policing course and the Toronto FIFA World Cup 26™ course helped over 17, 000 personnel build a shared approach to safety, security, and collaboration.
By Natalie Fournier
For over a month, Canada joined the world in celebrating the FIFA World Cup, not only in fandom but as host in Vancouver and Toronto. With thousands of soccer fans, large crowds of spectators, and multiple FIFA events taking place in both cities, police and public safety professionals remained focused on what often went unseen: ensuring the security and well-being of participants.
Through the Canadian Police Knowledge Network’s (CPKN) delivery of courses developed by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and the Toronto Police Service (TPS) to tackle large scale events, both services were able to lead training for police and public safety personnel in preparation for FIFA.
First on the pitch was VPD, looking to CPKN to build a course using content the service had already created. This became Large Event Policing, available through the CPKN catalogue, providing the essential building blocks for anyone involved in public safety to develop the knowledge and skills needed to ensure successful and secure events, regardless of their size or complexity.
Coming up to the goal line was TPS, who developed their own two-part FIFA-specific course, FIFA World Cup 26™, offered exclusively through their CPKN Learning Portal. It covered content like VPD’s Large Event Policing course but centred on the international tournament only. CPKN supported TPS to ensure it was up and running on the services portal in-time for training.
The shared language of these courses echoed between the two departments but also spread to neighbouring organizations and municipal services within Ontario and British Columbia, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
“FIFA was an international event unlike anything we’ve hosted,” says Golden Storey, eLearning Specialist, Toronto Police Service. “It showed that our police services can move beyond geographic and organizational boundaries to collaborate, share expertise, coordinate resources, and build trust in pursuit of a common goal.”
Over 17,000 members from police and public safety services registered for either the Large Event Policing course or the FIFA World Cup 26™ course through CPKN’s LMS. With 13 matches hosted between both cities, it was essential for onsite police and security to understand that FIFA represents a global event unlike typical large gatherings.
“Success for an event of this magnitude begins long before the soccer ball hits the field, and it was an honour for CPKN to support and be at the centre of connecting services and fostering collaboration between them,” says Krystine Richards, Vice President, CPKN.
If you have an emerging training need that you would like to share regionally or nationally, let CPKN help deliver it. Visit https://www.cpkn.ca/design-development/.
