DRYDEN — A new partnership between the public school board in the Dryden area and Ontario Provincial Police aims to steer young people away from trouble, the board’s director of education says.
The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board (KPDSB) and the OPP have introduced what they’re calling a “dedicated community engagement officer” at Dryden High School, said a media release from the school board. The officer — Const. Ron Fults —has worked out of the Dryden OPP detachment and will now have an office at the school and be there during school hours, said director of education Christy Radbourne.
“It's not at all a traditional policing role, it is quite outside the usual mandate of law enforcement, and that's what I think is so exciting about it,” she said.
“The idea is to really build a trusting space, also a place where you have a chance to ask those hard questions in a non-threatening environment of someone from that community, and really just try to build that from a positive step rather than waiting until it becomes something negative.”
The partnership came from conversations between board officials, police and the city about how to better engage young people before they may end up making costly decisions, Radbourne said.
“We knew that there are some crisis levels with youth and their engagement in everything from property crimes and various activities and … distress calls,” she said.
“We have been really working to find ways to engage youth, both after school, during school and in the community so that we can hopefully divert (them) from pursuits that were causing issues and that we could help kids see their future there and really remain.”
The officer will interact with students during extracurricular activities and education campaigns, as well as will work with staff and other organizations that engage with young people, Radbourne said. The goal is to build relationships early in order to steer students away from things like gang activity or “some of the more negative (things) that they may turn to when they don't feel that they're included in the community.”
No other high school in the board’s catchment area has a similar police position, Radbourne said, adding that they’re treating it as a pilot, with eyes on replicating it across the system.
She said it’s an endeavour that will help students.
“A lot of it has to do with the relationship building piece for us,” Radbourne said. “Generally, the only time that youth interact with law enforcement (is) when something has happened and it's usually very negative.”
“One of the best preventions for crime, of course, is, engagement in the prevention aspects of it in the first place.”
