Advocates call for B.C.-wide ban on school liaison officer programs

The controversial school liaison officer program is up for debate again, with civil liberties advocates calling for a province-wide ban on police in schools.

Civil liberties advocates are calling for a province-wide ban on school liaison officer programs.

In a letter to B.C.’s education and public safety ministers, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association says the programs cause harm to staff and students. The association is also calling for more transparency from school districts.

“There is yet to be any evidence that they do what they’ve purported to do, which is keep schools safe,” said BCCLA policy advisor Meghan McDermott.

McDermott is calling for districts across the province to publish reports covering the last five years and include information such as officer identities and complaints.

Detailed in the BCCLA’s letter are two recent incidents in Vancouver that affected staff and students.

One involved a school liaison officer who took their gun out and handcuffed a school employee. Vancouver police confirmed the incident to CTV News, but said the man failed to comply with police directions.

“It also causes extreme trauma,” said McDermott. “This has had a really large impact on this worker, and they continue to worry about repercussions for sharing this story.”

The other incident involved an officer who was disciplined by the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner for having an intimate relationship with a former student he met while speaking at their school.

Victoria Jung, chair of the Vancouver School Board, said she could not comment on the incident due to “privacy concerns.”

“I think it’s important that though people are curious about what is going on, we need to also respect people’s privacy, including the privacy of the individual who was involved in the incident,” Jung said.

The school liaison officer program has been a hot topic in B.C. for years, the concern prompting the VSB to revamp its program in 2023.

“We listened to those who are marginalized who said that they felt as though their voices hadn’t been heard, and so all of that was taken into account,” said Jung.

McDermott said revamping the program does not go far enough.

“It’s a waste of resources and we think that it makes schools less safe and that children can’t learn as well as they could have,” she said.

‘Unanswered Questions’

B.C. Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender has previously called for a pause on SLO programs and supported the BCCLA’s call for more data.

“Find out if they’re meeting their goals, if they are actually keeping young people safer,” she said.

Govender said it is difficult to make appropriate policy decisions without adequate data on the program.

“We can’t make good human-rights-based decisions unless we understand what’s actually happening with these programs,” she said.

Govender has called for more transparency for Indigenous and marginalized groups for years, saying it’s not a big ask.

“My call to action in the province has been kind of steadfastly ignored for years now,” Govender said. “There are some unanswered questions.”

Surrey, the largest school district in B.C., has officers in 21 high schools.

The SPS confirmed to CTV News that it has nine sworn police “school resource officers,” who work closely with the Surrey School Board. The SROs also support five learning centres, two private secondary schools, and 107 elementary feeder schools.

“I have seen extremely positive relationships and interactions between students and the police officers,” said Gary Tymoschuk, Surrey’s board chair.

When asked if the board would consider publishing data on the program, Tymoshuk said: “It’s not something we’re keeping a database on.”

In a statement to CTV News, the Ministry of Education and Child Care said elected school boards have final authority on whether to implement school liaison officers in their districts. It but did not provide any comment on the BCCLA’s report.