NEWS RELEASE

HRM's Recruitment Review

(Tuesday, December 9/08) - HRM's Chief Administrative Officer Dan English, Halifax Regional Chief of Police Frank Beazley and Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Chief Bill Mosher held a media briefing today to report on the results of HRM's recent recruitment review.

"Based on the results of a very thorough and detailed review, I remain confident in the integrity of HRM's recruitment process," said CAO Dan English. "Citizens put their trust in HRM's police officers and firefighters everyday. It is our obligation to ensure the people we hire to protect our community are not putting citizens or their personal information at risk. We will continue with the use of pre-employment polygraph as one of many sophisticated screening tools as part of our recruitment process to ensure we select the best possible candidates to serve and protect our community."

HRM recently underwent a review to address concerns that were raised around its recruiting practice and questions around how pre-employment polygraph services were procured for Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency.

The review involved the following: a detailed summary of the recruiting process for Police and Fire; a scan of the use of pre-employment polygraph; an analysis of how the pre-employment polygraph service was procured for HRFE; and an understanding of whether there was any non-compliance of an administrative policy or order.

"Off-duty police officers, through an external business operation, were providing a service to our fire department," states the CAO. "This has resulted in a perceived conflict of interest, and we take this very seriously. The matter has been referred to the Chief of Police."

"HRM takes its responsibility to the taxpayer very seriously," concluded the CAO. "We are committed to being fair and transparent when it comes to our recruitment practices and we will continue to uphold the integrity of our processes and ensure they deliver the best value for our taxpayer."

All HRM processes that are used in the delivery of service to the citizens of HRM are reviewed on a regular basis and revised and updated as necessary.

The full review report and information on HRM's recruitment processes can be found online at www.halifax.ca/mediaroom/recruitmentreview.html.

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Contact:

Michaelyn McCormack
HRM Corporate Communications
(902) 490-5940