LPS Sgt. Christy Woods. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

LPS hopes to prepare female recruits for testing with new targeted boot camp

Nov 23, 2021 | 2:05 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) is continuing to take steps to increase diversity within its ranks.

Sgt. Christy Woods spoke about a new four-day boot camp series in partnership with CrossFit Framework that is targeted towards women who are looking to become police officers.

She says the more diverse the force is, the better service they will be able to provide to the community.

The end goal is to prepare female recruits to pass the Alberta Physical Readiness Evaluation for Police Officers (APREP), which is mandatory for all trainees to get their accreditation.

“It’s not usually that the female, or the person who identifies as female, cannot physically pass the program, it’s what they’re doing and how they’re training, so it’s just the tools and help and assistance and guidance. In fact, there’s been tonnes of studies that show, even with as little as six weeks of training that’s focused and targeted, they can increase their success rate from 50-to-90 per cent,” says Woods.

Nighttime construction on Hwy 3 in Lethbridge starts April 17

Apr 17, 2025

SASHA launches #BuyABed fundraiser to support vulnerable Lethbridge residents

Apr 04, 2025

$20K grants available: TELUS STORYHIVE Pan-Asian Edition opens applications April 1

Mar 18, 2025

This program was developed by Cst. Molly Murray, one of LPS’ recruitment officers.

She had previously worked with two women who were trying to complete their training. After just one month, they were both able to pass the APREP test and reduce their times by one minute.

Woods told media that Murray’s program is geared specifically towards the types of cardio and anaerobic exercise that are required to pass the test and work as a police officer.

While this particular boot camp is geared towards women, there will be more in the future that are targeted at other under-represented groups.

“Throughout Canada, we have 22 per cent of police officers are female. For Lethbridge Police Service, we have 12 [per cent], so you can see that it’s one of the areas we want to improve upon in our service, but not the only one when we talk about diversity.”

The inaugural boot camp series takes place December 3 and 11, 2021, and on January 4 and 20, 2022.

Applications are set to open soon. Follow @LethbridgePoli1 on Twitter to stay updated.

For more information or to send in an application, you can send an email to recruiting@lethbridgepolice.ca