Barrhead’s School Resource Officer (SRO), Const. Karen Vicente, was forced to largely restrict her efforts to Barrhead Composite High School over the past year due to the public health restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
That was one of the takeaways from a report delivered to Pembina Hills trustees at their June 23 meeting by Assistant Supt. of Human Resources Brett Cooper.
Cooper recounted for the board what occurred at a June 16 meeting between Vicente, Barrhead RCMP Sgt. Bob Dodds and representatives of the Town and County of Barrhead.
An SRO is a law enforcement officer that works directly with students and staff in local schools and oversees various anti-drug and anti-bullying programs. The Barrhead SRO position is actually funded via a partnership between Pembina Hills and the two municipalities.
Cooper said there would typically be a wrap-up meeting between the funding partners at the end of a school year to discuss the SRO’s activities, but it got cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic.
He said that Vicente reported on some of the positives arising from her involvement in local schools over the past few years, citing some specific instances where she was able to “intervene “with some students and achieve beneficial outcomes.
Typically, she would work with Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS), Fort Assiniboine School and Neerlandia Public Christian School, but as noted earlier, had to limit her presence to Barrhead over the 2020-2021 school year, as per the instruction of the RCMP and Alberta Health Services.
“It’s been challenging to get to all the different schools she works with because of COVID,” he added.
While she did participate in school events like the PARTY Program, the main focus of her efforts was building relationships with students.
“it’s been a huge advantage to have a connection between (the RCMP and) students,” Cooper said.
Cooper said the meeting was also used to discuss the changing nature of police funding within Alberta.
While Sgt. Dodds is trying to confirm the details, Cooper suggested the province may be looking at funding an unspecified number of police officers per jurisdictions of certain populations.
If that number was high enough, it might result in the local SRO being funded by the province, effectively taking that responsibility out of the hands of Pembina Hills and local municipalities.
“Right now, Sgt. Bob Dodds has made it very clear that as long as he’s here, one of his officers will be assigned to the SRO piece,” Cooper said.
There is also the possibility that this new funding arrangement may result in the Westlock RCMP having the opportunity to establish an SRO, which the school division has advocated for in the past.
Supt. Dave Garbutt suggested that once this funding situation is clear, Pembina Hills may be able to approach the Westlock RCMP sergeant and outline the pros of having an SRO.
“The worst-case scenario is that we pay what we have been paying; I think we’re satisfied with that,” said Garbutt, adding that he was remaining in contact with Dodds over the SRO’s contract, which expires soon.
Board chair Jennifer Tuininga said trustees would also keep an eye on this issue over the summer and will follow up to find out what happened.
“If the province does decide to fund SROs, then we will be advocating around that,” she said.
