Uniformed officers returning to schools in York Region, but only for safety presentations, say officials

Students across York Region will once again see uniformed officers at school, however police and board officials say they will only be stopping by for the occasional safety presentation.

Both the Catholic and public school boards in York Region suspended two programs that placed officers in schools on a more fulltime basis in 2021 amid concerns from community advocates. The decision followed a similar move by the Toronto District School Board in 2017.

On Thursday morning, York Regional Police (YRP) unveiled a newly developed School-Police Protocol, which they said aims to “provide support and meaningful engagement for students at both the elementary and secondary levels” and “follows a thoughtful, collaborative process.”

Under the new protocol, youth engagement officers will be speaking with students at each school on three occasions to discuss road and traffic safety as well as pathways to a career in policing.

Parents, meanwhile, will be advised of the presentation and its topic two weeks in advance and can choose whether they want their children to attend.

“YRP will be invited to deliver one of the standardized presentations as guests of the school and at the discretion of the school administration and administrators, parents will be provided two weeks notice and advised of the presentation topic,” YRP’s Police Chief Jim McSween said during a news conference in Whitchurch-Stouffville.

“As the school year continues, we will continue to work with our partners at the school boards on evaluating this program to ensure we are meeting the needs of students, families and the community.”

McSween said that the updated protocol was developed over about five years and was created through a “trauma-informed “and “anti-oppressive human rights” approach.

He said that the topics of discussion may be modified down the line to include community safety issues in York Region, like gun violence, carjackings, and robberies.

“I would expect that there will be opportunities in the future for changes to that and to be added, or, you know, taken away, dependent on what's going on in our communities,” he said.

“What is good about these programs right now is that it's addressing some of the critical issues that are also happening out on our roads in relation to impaired and all of the issues I talked about with road safety. (It) is still a critical concern to the community as well so that's why we've started there.”

McSween said anyone concerned about the new protocol is welcome to contact police.

“I do hear from members of the community that are still concerned, and all I can say is, that's why we continue to monitor programs, reassess those programs. Are they meeting the objectives for the boards and for the police, in collaboration with all of us and the communities, and if so, you know, I'm asking for some trust here that we are going to do things differently,” he said.

“And you know, as we continue to deliver these programs, I'm confident that trust will be reestablished where it's broken and where it still exists.”

John De Faveri, York Catholic District School Board’s director of education, said the new protocol also outlines the process that must be followed by police and school staff when an investigation is needed inside a school, including what he called a “triage approach” to hate or bias-motivated incidences.

“It prescribes a list of alleged incidents that require a school to notify the police. It talks about information on investigations involving students with exceptionalities and an acknowledgement that mitigating factors should be considered, and a very explicit list of what those mitigating factors are,” he said.

King-Vaughan MPP Stephen Lecce was involved in the development of the new protocol but could not attend Thursday morning’s news conference.

In a statement provided to CP24, Lecce said that by working with community-based officers more young people will be provided “with the tools and confidence to prevent victimization online, in our communities and in the classroom.”

“Parents in King and Vaughan have urged all of us to work together to restore safety, and that is exactly what we have done, as we move forward with this plan to improve school safety. Thank you to all the partners involved, for your leadership and collaboration, and for working with community and government to keep our kids safe,” he said.

York Regional Police and school board representatives officially signed the new School-Police Protocol on Thursday morning.