The Greater Victoria Police Foundation has officially been launched, bringing together local police departments, business leaders and others with a focus on youth programs like Police Camp, which returns in March.
Board chair Robert Jawl said work on the foundation began more than two years ago and has involved police forces in Victoria/Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Saanich and Central Saanich.
He said the emphasis is on youth because they are “the leaders of tomorrow and the individuals who will continue to drive our society forward.”
The foundation has already brought back Police Camp, an eight-day camp held during spring break for 14- to 18-year-olds, and more programs are coming, Jawl said. Last spring’s camp was the first in 10 years.
“Police Camp is intended to be a long-term, cornerstone initiative of the foundation, but there are so many more opportunities that we hope to explore.”
Also established are a mentorship program to connect youths with individual officers, and a scholarship program at Camosun College, where four students will be selected through an application process to study in the fields of criminal justice, mental health and addictions.
The foundation’s programs are entirely funded by donations — founding members and other supporters have already contributed about $250,000 to get activities started. Jawl said fundraising will now be done through the foundation website at gvpf.org, through outreach to family foundations and corporations, and through planned fundraising events.
Greater Victoria Police Chief Del Manak, a former school-liaison officer, said there are no better role models for youth than police.
Grade 12 Lambrick Park Secondary student Kenyon Lee spoke at the foundation’s launch event last week at the Marigold Hotel’s Courtney Room about her Police Camp experience, which covered activities ranging from public-safety training to physical fitness and life skills.
“To know that there’s officers in the community that can help you with anything, I think that’s the most important message from this camp,” Kenyon said. “We were given the responsibility of adults but we still got to be a kid in a safe environment with all of the officers.”
She said she still keeps in touch with students and officers from the camp. “It’s so funny to have a couple of sergeants on Instagram,” she added with a smile.
Manak said the Greater Victoria School District is allowing officers into schools to talk to students about Police Camp, despite the school board’s cancellation of its police school-liaison program in May.
“Hats off to the school district,” he said.
The Victoria Police Department has not had school-liaison officers since 2018 due to budget issues, but Manak was looking to bring them back at the time the school-board opted to axe the program.
He said he is hopeful the cancellation of the program will be reconsidered.
Kenyon said she would also like to see the school-liaison officer program return to the Greater Victoria School District. Liaison officers are still active in the Sooke and Saanich school districts.
“School is a place for learning and as a student, it’s important to learn that police officers are in our community and there to help,” she said.
Vancouver Police Foundation special advisor Andrea Wright, who has been consulting with the foundation as it has developed, said police foundations are becoming more common in Canada.
She said the Vancouver Police Foundation, which has been in existence since 1976 and is the second-oldest in North America after the New York Police Department’s, focuses on youth, community engagement, mental health and addictions, and equipment and technology.
“I’ve been doing a lot of consulting work with police services across the country that are looking to establish police foundations.”
Police Camp, a no-cost initiative with room for 50 students, returns in March 2024.
Apply by Dec. 8 at gvpf.org/programs/police-camp/.
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