KITCHENER -- An internal survey at the Waterloo Regional Police Service highlights under-representation of visible minorities among its members.

The survey was the topic at a special police board meeting on Wednesday morning.

One of the key findings is that visible minorities who are not born in Canada are still under-represented among local police officers and civilian staff.

Police Chief Bryan Larkin noted that it's an important topic for its diversity and inclusion program.

The police service will carry out a special recruitment effort over the next few months.

"Our partnerships with, for example, Reception House, our partnership with the Somalian community, you know, we're looking at a large recruitment strategy within the Somalian community where we have a large local population," Larkin said during the meeting.

"Our partnership with Anishnabeg Outreach around outreach to Indigenous communities et cetera."

The survey also found that job satisfaction within the service is the strongest it's ever been.

Staff at Waterloo regional police also feel more supports are in place to help deal with mental health.