Armed and gregarious
More schools to have a 'good cop' patrolling halls
June 30, 2009
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Louise Brown
EDUCATION REPORTER
Students and families of C.W. Jefferys Collegiate have dropped their opposition to a police officer at the school and will welcome a uniformed, armed constable this fall, after ongoing violence at the high school this year.
Jefferys, whose name has become almost shorthand for school violence in this city, joins two other schools near Toronto's often troubled Jane-Finch community – Westview Centennial and Emery Collegiate – on a list of 20 more to get the "school resource officers," a program the police chief says "gets positive reaction in spades.
"We know there are no bad schools, only schools where students are victimized more than others," said Chief Bill Blair of the Toronto Police Service, "and this program builds trusting relationships with people we are sworn to protect."
It has taken a year for schools in the northwest corner of the city – including Jefferys, where Grade 9 student Jordan Manners was killed in 2007 – to welcome one of the officers assigned to connect with teens and discourage violence by becoming a confidant and mentor rather than an authority figure.
Trustee Stephnie Payne said the three schools changed their minds in the spring after a teen was stabbed at Jefferys and another caught with a loaded handgun.
"A year ago, I didn't feel we needed police in the schools and neither did the community, but after the stabbing last fall and the student with the loaded handgun around Easter, there was overwhelming support to try a police officer," said Payne. "But I told the police chief I don't want to see youth taken out of school in handcuffs; that won't break down the barriers we know leads to kids being afraid to `snitch,'" she added.
Police announced yesterday they will assign uniformed police officers to 50 public and Catholic high schools this fall – up from 30 this year – to "build a mutual respect between my officers and the young people of this city."
Blair said police are combing through data to see whether the schools with police officers saw a drop in violence and other problems, although he said early signs suggest schools with police had fewer weapon incidents and less cause for suspension.
"They're meant to be the `good cops,'" said vice-principal John Brady of James Cardinal McGuigan Catholic High School, where he said Const. Gavin Jansz was not involved in a single disciplinary incident.
"I coached junior basketball and varsity softball," said Jansz, "and wore a tutu in the school Christmas concert – you want to change students' image of you to someone who's not too proud to help."
Officer Kevin White of Downsview Secondary School would go in the weight room at lunchtime and offer tips, and over the year, found students he used to deal with as a street crime officer began to drop by his office to show off their good marks.
"I don't get on them about wearing hats or skipping class – other people can do that," said White. "But gradually they've started coming in for advice on all sorts of issues, personal and legal, which is good."
COPS IN SCHOOLS
New schools to have police officers starting this fall:
- Toronto District School Board:
- Bendale Business and Technical Institute
- C.W. Jefferys Collegiate
- David & Mary Thompson Collegiate
- Earl Haig Secondary School
- Emery Collegiate
- L'Amoreaux Collegiate
- Lester B. Pearson Collegiate
- Martingrove Collegiate
- Nelson A. Boylen Collegiate
- Northview Heights Secondary School
- Scarlett Heights Entrepreneurial Academy
- West Hill Collegiate
- West Humber Collegiate
- Westview Centennial Secondary School
- York Humber High School
- Toronto Catholic District School Board:
- Francis Libermann Catholic Secondary School
- Msgr. Percy Johnson Catholic Secondary School
- Pope John Paul II Catholic Secondary School
- St. Basil-the-Great College
- Senator O’connor College
- Schools that will continue to have police officers this fall:
- Toronto District School Board:
- Albert Campbell Collegiate
- Birchmount Collegiate
- Cedarbrae Collegiate
- Danforth Collegiate & Technical Institute
- Downsview Secondary School
- Eastern Commerce Collegiate
- Etobicoke Collegiate
- George S. Henry Academy
- Marc Garneau Collegiate
- Newtonbrook Secondary School
- North Albion Collegiate
- Northern Secondary School
- Silverthorn Collegiate
- Sir Robert L. Borden Business and Technical Institute
- Sir Sandford Fleming Academy
- Stephen Leacock Collegiate
- Thistletown Collegiate
- Vaughan Road Academy
- Western Technical-Commercial School
- Weston Collegiate
- Winston Churchill Collegiate
- York Memorial
- Toronto Catholic District School Board
- Archbishop Romero Catholic Secondary School
- Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School
- Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School
- Dante Alighieri Secondary School
- Don Bosco Secondary School
- James Cardinal McGuigan Catholic Secondary School
- Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School
- Michael Power/St. Joseph Catholic Secondary School
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