Calgary school resource officer reform going back to students

Change is on the horizon for Calgary’s school resource officer (SRO) program, but the Calgary Police Service is seeking more input from students first.

At a Calgary Police Commission meeting Tuesday, police said the initial online survey didn’t produce the quality of data CPS was hoping for in order to address changes to the program.

An independent review of officers in schools was announced by CPS as part of a la

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rger evaluation of the program, one of the steps Calgary police are taking around anti-racism. Argyle PR was hired to do the online survey, conducted during the pandemic.

Only 16 per cent of respondents were students, with nine per cent being high school students, two per cent junior high and five per cent elementary. Parents represented 45 per cent of the initial results and 33 per cent were student staff. CPS staff and SROs were also part of the study.

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Survey-takers self-identified their ethnic background. People identifying as “white” numbered 33.8 per cent. BIPOC respondents added up to 58 per cent of responses. And 8.3 per cent said they preferred not to say.

According to census data, Calgary’s non-white population is around 40 per cent.

Calgary police are planning on re-engaging with more students during the first half of 2022, including “a plan to reach impacted students.”

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A stakeholder roundtable will take place mid-year to develop an action plan.

An oversight board will be struck to put that action plan into place, with the aim to transform the SRO program by the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.

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CPS Chief Mark Neufeld said police didn’t want to just go with a majority opinion on how students were experiencing the SRO program, and wanted to apply an anti-racism lens to it.

“Let’s make sure that we are actually taking further than initial steps to amplify the voices of those who aren’t experiencing the program in the same way and make sure that we actually can engage with those folks more closely to better understand what some of the issues will be,” the police chief said.

Staff Sgt. Ralph Veckenstedt said the SRO program is about establishing relationships with young Calgarians ahead of when they might need to call on police.

“Because at some point in everybody’s life, no matter what it is, there will be an interaction with police,” Veckenstedt said.

“A lot of times those interactions are not favorable, because they’re at the lowest and the darkest times for most Calgarians. So, to be able to build relationships when you’re interacting with the police at some of your best times — when you’re learning and you’re maturing.”

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While Calgary police have 38 SRO positions in the system among public and separate school divisions, only 23 CPS members are deployed to schools.

Deputy Chief Katie McLellan said Calgary police know SRO programs in other cities have resulted in traumas.

“We acknowledge and are aware of the history of other police services and their actions with students in schools,” she said.

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Commissioners Susan Mallon and Heather Campbell questioned why the focus was on reforming Calgary’s SRO program given its history and how much the city has changed since the 1970s, rather than start again using modern principles.

Veckenstedt said the program has changed markedly in the past 50 years.

“As events happen in real time, we do our best to adjust. Are we always on top of it? Absolutely not. But we take the information in, we adjust our training, adjust our practices, and we move forward.”

In his first meeting as a police commissioner, Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott wondered if, with the police commitment to alternate response models, SROs are trained to deal with students at their worst.

“If our outcome is to intervene with students at the lowest points in their life, in advance of criminality and events of mental health, distress and disorders, is a police officer trained enough to do that work and are SROs trained any more than a standard police officer would be, especially as you’re looking toward educational reform within the training?” Walcott asked.

Neufeld said SROs wouldn’t purport to replace the work of trained psychologists but described SROs as one part of a response, underscoring the importance of relationship-building between police and citizens.

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The police chief said CPS has to be open to the further feedback it receives in 2022.

“We’re attached (to SROs) to the extent that we know that our members have done excellent work in the schools and they’ve made a huge difference in the lives of students. And so we want to celebrate the successes and we want to build off of those,” Neufeld said. “But let’s face it, we have to be open-minded in the consultation process.”

“I think we heard from the commission tonight a desire to make sure that we are open-minded and looking at the issue or the ultimate goal of positive engagement for all young people. And so we’ll look at the best ways to do that.”