Board renews request to have cop for schools

Issue revisited with new officer in charge for Penticton detachment

With a pending change in command at the Penticton RCMP detachment, school trustees are renewing calls for a dedicated officer to serve students and staff. The board of the Okanagan Skaha School District voted Monday to send a letter to incoming Insp. Ted De Jager asking him to assign a full-time RCMP liaison officer to local schools.

A similar request went in a year ago to now-retired superintendent Kevin Hewco, but got no response, according to school board chairwoman Linda Van Alphen.

“And now with the change in superintendent at the RCMP, we have gone back to them and said we see the value in having the liaison,” she said.

The board heard a year ago the last such school liaison officer was then-constable Wally Taylor, who was re-assigned in 2001.

Trustee Bill Bidlake, a former school principal, said Monday that Taylor focused his efforts on crime prevention and quickly earned the trust of students.

Taylor “was heavily involved in the community — he coached, the kids all knew him — and so when he came into your school, it wasn’t a big deal that a police officer was there. It didn’t mean something was wrong,” said Bidlake.

School district superintendent Wendy Hyer noted a liaison officer, available during school hours, would be more accessible than a Mountie on regular shift work.

“Right now if you phone the members, sometimes it’s difficult to follow up on the issue because they’re four days on and four days off,” she said, adding most surrounding school districts already have such liaisons in place.

Okanagan Skaha does not, however, intend to pay the cost of such an officer, and Hewco told The Herald last year he didn’t have the money to create a new position — nor did he want to reassign anyone to it.

No firm date has been announced yet for De Jager’s arrival in Penticton from his current posting as head of the Mission detachment.