Vancouver police give update on new School Liaison Officer program

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) is highlighting some early successes from a revamped School Liaison Officer (SLO) program.

Police provided Vancouver City Council an update on the program at its meeting Tuesday, just under a month into the school year.

The program was brought back for this school year after it was discontinued in 2021 following criticisms it caused harm to BIPOC and other marginalized students.

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At the city hall meeting, Deputy Chief Fiona Wilson outlined a number of scenarios in which on-site officers have made a difference in recent weeks.

That includes one situation in which Wilson said a student used bear spray in a hallway, with the SLO on the scene providing first aid before calling an ambulance.

In another instance, she said a student posted pictures of themself on social media holding a gun, which was later found to have been fake. Wilson says the SLO has been working with the school, and the student’s family to “get to the core” of what was behind the incident.

Wilson also said two students recently reported a sexual assault at the hands of another student to the SLO, which has led to the VPD’s sex crimes and child abuse unit getting involved.

She added that the attitudes school communities have toward SLOs have gradually changed since the beginning of the school year.

“Even just in the fourth week of the program, we’re already hearing stories about more engagement with staff who, in the first week, weren’t as likely to engage with the school liaison officers. So I’m very encouraged by that,” Wilson told council.

The officer added she’s heard of incidents that happened in previous years without SLOs around that would have seen police intervention if the program was in effect.

The Vancouver School Board announced it “reimagined” the SLO program at the end of August, days before the start of the school year. The school board green-lit a return of the program last November, with the VPD announcing changes to officers involved in the program in April.

Among the changes are more “casual” uniforms for SLOs, along with a smaller gun that can be concealed.

However, not everyone is as happy about the return of police officers in schools.

SLOs infringe on basic rights of school communities, says BCCLA

Safiyya Ahmad with the BC Civil Liberties Association says despite changes to the SLO program, the organization believes police officers don’t belong in schools.

“It’s a massive infringement on the basic rights and freedoms of the children as well as the teachers and all other school employees,” she told CityNews on Tuesday.

“People have the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, and to have police constantly monitoring students and watching their actions is a significant concern.”

Ahmad points to research outlining systemic racism in policing, saying patterns seen in everyday life will likely be seen in school settings.

“Racial profiling is already an issue outside of the school context, so we have every reason to believe it would be the exact same problem in schools as well,” she said.

A lack of clarity around officers’ roles in schools as part of the SLO program, Ahmad says, is also a concern.

“There’s really a lot that we don’t know yet. The memorandum of understanding between the school board and the Vancouver police is not very clear about the extent to which police are going to be involved in ordinary activities, or the extent to which they interfere with students’ day-to-day activities,” she said.

The SLO program was discontinued in 2021 after it was put under review in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota. Reinstating the program was a key campaign province for ABC Vancouver, whose members make up a majority of trustees on the VSB.

With files from Kier Junos, Hana Mae Nassar and James Paracy