Parents raise concerns over ABC Vancouver's promise to bring back school liaison officers

Ken Sim and his newly elected slate are forging ahead with plans to bring police officers back to city schools — a move that would undo a 2021 school board vote to cancel the program that received widespread support at the time.

Sim and ABC Vancouver, which campaigned on public safety, won majority slates on both city council and the school board. Among their campaign promises was the reinstatement of the city's school liaison program "amidst Vancouver's public safety crisis." 

"When we spoke with residents, the vast majority of them wanted the school liaison program back," Sim told CBC's The Early Edition on Tuesday.

The mayor-elect reflected on his days attending Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, where he said gangs would target Chinese youth for recruitment.

"I had a really dear friend who, by Grade 10, he ended up in a gang, had to pick a fight with me," he said. "If it wasn't for the school liaison officer, I would have been in a lot of trouble."

ABC Vancouver won five of nine school trustee seats, giving it control of the Vancouver School Board once elected candidates are sworn in on Nov. 7.

If new trustees follow through on the campaign promise, it would undo an 8-1 vote last year to cancel the school liaison officer program that had previously been in place for more than 40 years and had officers stationed throughout the district's 17 high schools.

Past student concerns

When the board voted to end the program, it said it was being responsive to community concerns after acts of racism and discrimination involving police in North America raised questions about officers' presence in schools.

An independent report found students had mixed experiences with the SLO program. While many students praised feeling safe, it noted that compared to the overall student population, students who identified as Black and Indigenous were less likely to refer to positive relationships with school liaison officers.

According to the report, those students were more likely to use words like "uncomfortable, scared, anxious "and less likely to use words like "safe, supported, caring" than other students.

Parents raise concerns

Parker Johnson was among those in favour of shutting down the program in 2021, while his daughter attended Vancouver Technical Secondary and is among those dismayed by its potential reinstatement.

"I think it makes absolutely no sense," he said. "They're an intimidating factor for students at school, particularly marginalized students, especially Black and Indigenous students."

Karen Tsang, the secretary of the District Parent Advisory Council, questioned whether the new trustees will follow through on their campaign promise and hopes they will review the previous report before making any decisions.

"We've heard from kids and parents who felt their kids were being monitored or surveilled," she said. "We would like people who can serve the community, and surveilling kids is not serving the community."

After the VSB removed the SLO program, it launched the safe and caring schools department — a department committed to safety interventions and resources for marginalized students. DPAC members said they hope it won't be affected by the potential reinstatement of the SLO program.

Building relationships

CBC News reached out to ABC Vancouver for further comment for details on how the program would be brought back but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Kal Dosanjh, a police officer and founder of the anti-gang Kidsplay Foundation, said he thinks the program can help bridge stronger relationships between law enforcement and students and sway vulnerable youth away from crime.

"I've seen a significant number of kids in school settings who have benefited from having an officer there," he said. "They appreciated the efforts that have been made by police officers to establish that rapport."