Arrest a day after school liaisons cut

An armed man was arrested at gunpoint Thursday morning near Victoria High School, one day after the Victoria Police Department announced that it is cutting the school liaison officer program.

Police were called to Fernwood Square at the intersection of Gladstone Avenue and Fernwood Road just before 11 a.m. after a teacher was threatened by a man with a knife, said Police Chief Del Manak.

The teacher had asked the man to move after she spotted him consuming drugs on the stairs leading into the high school grounds.

The teacher was not injured.

The man walked away from the stairs and entered the nearby Vegas convenience store.

He was leaving the business as officers arrived. A cellphone video shot by a student shows the man standing by the school yard fence and reaching for something behind his back. One officer has his gun trained on the man and says loudly: “On the ground now, hands out of your pocket. Out of your pocket now!”

Another officer told the students to get back.

After several minutes, the man complied and was handcuffed, Victoria police said. Charges have not been laid.

“Any time there’s an incident that occurs on or near school property where student safety could be in question, it’s concerning,” Manak said.

“It’s concerning to students, it’s concerning to teachers, to the community at large and the police department.”

The incident comes a day after the police department was criticized for cutting its three school liaison officers, who will be redeployed to front-line policing. Manak said he was forced to make the difficult decision after Esquimalt council turned down a request for six additional officers.

As a former school liaison officer, Manak said he of all people knows what he’s taking away.

“Although there’s an emotional connection to the school liaison officers … at the end of the day, what’s important to me is I know our ability to respond to 911 call is compromised and I need officers to the front lines.”

He denied suggestions that he’s cutting a program he knew would spark public outcry in order to put more pressure on Esquimalt council to fund the officers.

“At the end of the day as the chief, my job is to provide policing outside of any political control or political interference,” he said.

Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said she’s extremely concerned by the move, saying the liaison officers are an important resource in preventing serious criminal behaviour down the road.

School liaison officers maintain a presence in a school, attend school and community events and are the main point of contact between Victoria police, students, teachers and parents. The officers will remain in the schools until the end of the school year, Manak said.

Edith Loring-Kuhanga, board chairwoman for the Greater Victoria school district, said in a statement: “The Board of Education sees high value in having liaison officers in our schools. They are our partners in education, but this a discussion between Victoria Police, the Township of Esquimalt and the City of Victoria.”

In March, Esquimalt council voted 4-3 against spending $40,778 to fund its share of hiring six additional officers. The City of Victoria voted in favour of spending $528,000 to fund the new officers.

Esquimalt is responsible for about 15 per cent of the police budget, while Victoria covers the balance.

The province’s director of police services, Clayton Pecknold, has been asked to step in and resolve the dispute over the six officers, which is the process under the Police Act when two municipalities disagree on funding matters.

Pecknold said in a statement: “The Victoria and Esquimalt police board request remains under review. This type of request is rare, and we always encourage municipalities, their police boards and agencies to work together to resolve issues wherever possible. This is a statutory process — it takes time.”

Manak said the review could take six to 18 months.

Pecknold said decisions about the deployment of police officers “is a matter for the police chief and police board in consultation with their communities."