Schools reconsider liaison officer program
Petition calls for end of having armed, uniformed police in elementary and secondary schools
A heightened sense of injustice and distrust of the police among students who are Black, Indigenous and persons-of-colour (BIPOC) could spell the end of police liaison officers in Vancouver schools.
The district is poised to begin a review of the decades-old student liaison officer program, which places officers in the city's elementary and secondary schools.
More than 2,800 students, parents and teachers signed a petition from Police Free Schools are Safer Schools calling for an end to the program, saying many students “do not feel safe at schools where police are present.”
The group says officers are placed at schools with more students who are Black, Indigenous and BIPOC, groups that are already over-policed and overrepresented in the prison system.
The petitioners point to the experience of “racialized youth” in the school system.
“As a Black woman, as a student and, at the end of the day, just a person, going back to my half-empty classrooms, the last thing I want to see is a RCMP officer staring back at me,” the petition quotes Haleluya Hailu. “If you feel reassured by a badge and a gun, that is a privilege that I wish I could have.”
Student liaison officers are expected to pursue crime prevention through education, promote the force as a community service and a career option, and to investigate offences, according to a request for proposal from the Vancouver school board, which is seeking a contractor to carry out a review of its police-in-schools program.
The district is also looking for a new process to deal with incidents of racism between students using a restorative justice model as part of that contract.
The Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association has asked that the board suspend the presence of police in schools until the Vancouver police and the RCMP “undertake anti-racism work.”
A unit of 15 constables and two sergeants are assigned to the Vancouver police school liaison officer program, dedicated to education, building healthy relationships with students, and enhancing security and safety, the department says.
Officers, who must apply to be part of the program, also help out with school clubs, coach sports teams and even help kids experiencing family problems, said VPD spokeswoman Const. Tania Visintin.
“The program plays a huge role in both elementary and high school,” she said. “It humanizes police officers and shows that they really are there to help you.”