A commentary by a Victoria resident.
A definition of the noun “liaison”: Communication or cooperation which facilitates a close working relationship between people or organizations.”
In the latest safety plan submitted by the school board, there is a list of guidelines for police questioning students, it has lots of scary what-ifs written into it, including that teachers have to “ensure the student is safe from violence, racially derogatory language or otherwise abusive treatment of the student by police.”
“This includes, for instance, the student being kept safe from the use of strip searches at school.”
As a parent of a middle school child I certainly would not want police coming into my daughter’s school and conducting interrogations from a 1980s buddy cop movie either. So it’s a good thing that’s got absolutely nothing to do with the school liaison officer program!
I was fortunate when I was in school to have a liaison officer on site three days a week. And their role was to be an ambassador for the RCMP; a face for a larger organization.
If we had concerns, we needed advice, were worried about something that was happening; we had someone to go talk to.
Studies have shown that children are far more likely to report something to the police if they are familiar already with a law enforcement individual.
The likelihood of a child or a teen going down to a police station, a big faceless organization in a big intimidating building, and filing a report or knowing how to file a report is unlikely.
And as liaison officer the officers in my school did not conduct investigations and did not do questioning because that was not their role.
If we had information or concerns we would give it to them and they would pass that information along and the police force would handle next steps.
Our liaison officer was not there to police the school. They were there to be a bridge between us and an important service that is offered to the community.
Our liaison officers were great friends to us all. They played basketball, joked with us and give advice. And quite a few of us went into the RCMP because we knew the liaison officers and we wanted to follow in their footsteps.
It’s saddened me immensely that people have so greatly misunderstood what this community outreach project is and are trying so hard to prevent our kids from having a friendly face in their school.
You know what makes a child feel safe? A friend.
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