Calgary Police Service Youth Resource Officer Program launching in junior high schools
The Calgary Police Service is expanding its educational programs through the creation of the Youth Resource Program in junior high schools.
The Calgary Police Service has worked with both school boards to develop an agreed upon delivery method for all education that we provide to youth. With the piloting of Youth Resource Officers in junior high schools in both the Calgary Catholic School District and Calgary Board of Education, age appropriate information will be shared with youth allowing them to be safe, resilient and responsible citizens.
The Youth Resource Officer Program builds on the success of the Start Smart Stay Safe program (S4). S4 brings police officers and teachers together in elementary school classrooms, focusing on a curriculum that teaches lessons on staying safe, making good decisions, fostering healthy relationships and promoting pro-social and positive behaviors.
The Youth Resource Officer program is being developed now and will commence with a pilot project in September 2014, equipped with eight officers.
Youth Resource Officers will bring a blend of S4 curriculum along with the mandate of School Resource Officers, providing community policing support while working with students, administration and families to promote safe school communities.
Between the S4 program, the School Resource Officer program that has seen police officers work closely with high school students, teachers and administrations for over 37 years; and now the Youth Resource Officer program, the Calgary Police Service will have a proactive presence in the education system beginning from grade one through to grade 12.
“We are pleased with our ongoing partnership with the Calgary Police Service in these programs which build positive relations between police and students, create safer communities and help prepare students for the challenges of our complex, changing world,” says David Stevenson, chief superintendent of the Calgary Board of Education.
As the Calgary Police Service continues to expand the many ways in which we deliver programming to students, all of these three programs will now include a comprehensive traffic education component.
Through consultation with school board partners, we will be able to deliver comprehensive traffic education in a coordinated manner to more schools in the city.
Existing partnerships that provide vital information to children of all ages as it relates to traffic safety will continue to thrive through S4 as well as our School Resource Officers and Youth Resource Officers.
“This presents a good opportunity to evaluate our traffic education programming, and see if we should be making any changes to improve what we offer students in the classroom,” said Richard Svoboda, Superintendent for Area A Schools, with the Calgary Catholic School District. “The longstanding AMA School Safety Patrol in our elementary schools which is one of the most important pieces of our traffic education program, will continue. I’m looking forward to working with our partners in the Calgary Police Service on developing this program which I know will benefit all of our students.”
The Calgary Police Service (CPS) is committed to reducing crime in our community by working with community partners to develop comprehensive strategies to address education, prevention, early intervention, treatment and enforcement.