The school liaison officer program may be cancelled, but New West police are committed to supporting local youth.
Last month, the school board voted in favour of immediately ending the school district’s child and youth liaison officer program. The board also directed staff to collaborate with the New Westminster Police Department in the “redesign of our relationship” as it relates to protocols and training for emergency procedures in schools, including critical incidents, lockdowns and violent-threat assessments.
Chief Const. Dave Jansen of the New Westminster Police Department said police will be reporting back to the police board on the issue.
“We are going to have a report for the board and find a way to move forward,” he said. “But it’s not going to change how we deal with the community as far as being there.”
Jansen said he was “disappointed” about the decision to eliminate the two school liaison officers (SLOs) from local schools but noted the NWPD’s youth-at-risk officer position isn’t impacted by the school board’s decision.
“We had two school liaison officers and we have one youth-at-risk officer. The youth-at-risk officer did do some work at (the school district), but it wasn’t their primary work. They also deal with the private and independent schools and some other programs within the city,” he said. “That work is going to continue to go on. They are going to continue to be a resource for youth at risk, and supporting families and youth wherever we are needed and wanted. So that will continue on.”
Jansen said the two school liaison officers had been redeployed to the road during COVID and had not been working in schools. He said the police department had not allocated funds specifically for those officers to work in schools, so they will just be returned to frontline operations.
Jansen said he hadn’t spoken directly to school district officials about the school liaison officer program, but an inspector and a sergeant overseeing youth and prevention services programming had been in communication with school officials.
“We will work closely with the school district about what their asks and needs are and see how we might be able to assist them to the best of our ability and what they need,” he told the Record. “We will continue to work with the youth with our youth-at-risk officer, and work out through the summer with the school district on what it might look like into the new school year as far as whatever training or programs they need us to support them on.”
Why it was cancelled
In a letter emailed to parents after the board’s decision to cancel the program, board chair Gurveen Dhaliwal said New Westminster will be changing the district’s relationship with local police so it can better support people in the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) community and others who share concerns about the partnership.
“I do want to be clear: this marks the end of a program, but not the end of a relationship,” she wrote. “We heard parents, students and staff when they spoke to the important and valued role the New Westminster police has played in keeping students, staff and the community safe. We share that value with you, and with the hard-working officers who serve this community. We all want to do everything we can to keep kids safe. That’s why the motion specifically names the need to redesign our relationship.”
Dhaliwal said district staff will also be working on recommendations about other community partners, local organizations or district staff teams who can take on portions of the work previously done by school liaison officers.
“Over the last number of months we have looked at evidence-based research, we have heard from local advocates and experts, we looked at how our program operates and compared that with other districts, and we have engaged with staff, students and parents in various ways. We heard stories from people who personally benefited from the program, and we heard from students and families who felt the presence of an officer made them feel less safe or welcome in schools, people who were calling on us to act.”
School district staff will be reporting back to the board about transition plans at the June 8 education committee meeting.
A staff report presented at the April 13 education committee meeting included some background about the issue, including a petition signed by 101 people (including parents or caregivers of current students, current and past New West residents, New Westminster Secondary School alumni and people from other communities) calling for the program to be cancelled.
“As New Westminster parents and community members, we want school to be a place where all children and youth feel welcome, safe, and valued,” stated the petition. “We want to believe that this is already the case, but many Black, Indigenous, and racialized students and their families do not feel safe at schools where police are present.”
As part of its review of the child and youth liaison officer program, the school district sent out a survey to parents on April 1 to get their input. The Record has contacted the school district about the results of the survey.
Follow Theresa McManus on Twitter @TheresaMcManus
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