Squamish needs school liaison officer, says RCMP

RCMP would like to see a dedicated school liaison officer in Squamish.

Although council has not yet committed to RCMP budget items, district staff’s draft 2016-2020 budget includes $160,000 for a school liaison officer in 2016, with $144,000 funded from a protective services provision, according to Christine Mathews, financial planning manager at the district. 

Inspector Neil Cross and Staff Sgt. Brian Cumming presented the Squamish RCMP Detachment Contract Policing Growth Plan for 2016-2020 to council at a budget workshop last week. 

The district currently funds 23 regular RCMP members, and a traffic officer does liaison work as part of that role, but that isn’t efficient, according to Cross. 

“We constantly get called away to things,” he said, giving the example of the officer being expected to drop in at the school and having to cancel due to a traffic incident.

A school liaison talks with the students and is involved with programs, such as a school lockdown drill recently facilitated at the high school.

“Youth engagement is obviously very important for us,” said Cross. 

“We can hopefully steer them away from any activity that might be of a criminal nature.” 

Carlee Stecyk, mentoring coordinator supervisor for Big Brothers, said she was surprised to learn Squamish doesn’t currently have a dedicated school liaison officer.

“We are actually doing presentations at the detachment right now, just trying to get more involvement from the members there,” she said. 

“Kids love seeing them, and they feel special when they are involved and present in the school, and then they can see them as that positive person.” 

The last time Squamish schools had a dedicated liaison officer was in 2013, Cumming said. 

Jody Langlois, assistant superintendent of schools for the Sea to Sky school district, said a school liaison officer is invaluable.

“It’s gold,” she said “I am not even sure all the members understand how effective it is.”

Langlois said she has seen firsthand the difference a liaison can make. Once, in another school district, teens were gathering at the beach and tensions were rising, she said. An officer who didn’t know the students came and tried to disperse the group, but tensions rose further. A liaison officer then arrived and knew the teens by name. They knew and trusted him and soon he had the teens heading home.

“It was like the parting of the seas,” Langlois said. “If I had a magic wand, there would be an abundance of liaison officers in every school district. I think they are so hugely beneficial.” 

Cumming said traffic services and enforcement have been diluted by 50 per cent because of using some of the time for the liaison work. 

“So both [positions] are somewhat compromised and not as effective as we would like them to be,” he said.

The Squamish RCMP force has not seen an increase in members in the past five years. The population in 2011 was just over 17,000. In 2014 the district was just shy of 20,000. 

The Growth Management Strategy (2005) indicated that the population of Squamish is projected to increase to 33,100 in 2031.

The officers put forward three recommendations to council. Their first recommendation is to add an additional two officers in 2016, with one officer designated as a school liaison, plus one new officer per year for 2017 to 2020.

The other two alternative recommendations are for one additional officer in 2016 for the school liaison and one per year for 2017 to 2020; and one additional officer in 2016 for the liaison and one officer per year for 2018 to 2020. 

In the current district draft budget, in addition to funding for the school liaison officer, is $160,000 for another RCMP police officer for 2018, with $112,000 funded from the protective services provision.

Budget deliberations continue this week. Mathews said it is likely a decision on the officers won’t be made until the new year.