The results are in from our questionnaire, and we have compiled the responses from SD61 School Board Candidates about the School Police Liaison Officer (SPLO) Program.
We received responses from 21% of candidates.
Our question was simple, but important: Do you support an SPLO program in SD61 schools? If yes, please elaborate. If not, what measures would you take to end the program?
To read our report on candidates running for Victoria Mayor and City Council and how they responded to questions about police funding, click here.
How to Read Our Report
We are including some symbols as visual aids for readers to help navigate the responses.
✔️ = Responded to our questionnaire
✖️ = Did not respond to our questionnaire
🟢 = Does not support an SPLO program in SD61 schools
🟡 = Unclear position
🔴 = Supports the SPLO program and having police in SD61 Schools
Question: Do you support an SPLO program in SD61 schools? If yes, please elaborate. If not, what measures would you take to end the program?
✔️🟢 Maiya Beech, website
No. But I believe that we need to take a step back and listen to the Songhees and Xwsepsum (Equimalt) Nations, their board members, and members of the First Nation communities to understand the current challenges and work together on possible steps forward.
Along with my Victoria For All colleagues on city council, I would prioritize counsellors, social workers, nurses, youth workers, and other professionals who build relationships with students and support their mental health, well-being, and safety. SD61 should push for expanded federal and provincial investment in programs that give students alternatives, such as the Mobile Youth Services Team (MYST), which at the very least involves a school counsellor and a connection to school-based supports*. The district could also partner with Island Health to redevelop the school nurse program, bringing trauma-informed, culturally safe, and affirming care directly into schools.
If, ultimately, I am outvoted and the SPLO program continues, I would spread awareness among my colleagues that police presence affects students in differing ways and ensure that the program is actually evidence based, accountable, and responsive to students’ experiences. This follows the B.C. Human Rights Commissioner’s recommendation from the 2021 report, Equity is Safer, that “school boards should end school liaison officer (SLO) programs unless they can demonstrate an evidence-based need for them that cannot be met through other means” and that “school boards must centre the impact of continuing SLO programs on Indigenous, Black and other student populations.”
*At the time of the response, MYST had not yet announced that their funding had run out.
✔️🔴 Darren Companion, website
I’d have to say that I’m generally in favor, though I think a few considerations or parameters should be in place for their visits. For instance, should they be fully armed while in the school, dressed in their regular work gear, or wear something more casual for student visits? Should they be required to sign in at the office like other visitors? Perhaps expectations could differ for younger elementary students compared to our senior schools. I’ve had many experiences where school liaison officers were helpful and educational (like during Halloween safety demonstrations, bike safety events, etc.), but also a few where they didn’t come across as sensitive to the childrens’ needs.
Also, I think it’s important that when they are in the schools (apart from regular police call-out incidents) that they have an approved program of instruction or some specific learning objectives that they are there to promote. For example, Halloween safety issues or learning about E-Scooter safety and rules. I would prefer this kind of program, rather than have them just showing up whenever it suits them. I’m not sure if the new trustees will be looking at this issue (I doubt it), but I do understand that trustees are supposed to review all policy and procedures that exist for SD61 sometime during their four year term. So, it might be reviewed again.
✔️🔴Andrew Gage, website
You ask if I support an SPLO program in SD61 schools, and I guess it depends upon what is meant by a program. Certainly, having liaison officers assigned to schools without something more is not a program. With the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations asking that police be present in the schools, and with significant levels of support for police liaisons from families, I think the focus of the question should be on what type of program will best serve our children?
It is important that the School District and Victoria Police Department work together cooperatively to support students. Police are guests in the school, there to offer a program and build positive relationships with students. The emphasis must be on community policing, education and building relations, not law enforcement. Police are not social workers and counsellors, and officers are not a replacement for adequate funding of those supports by the Provincial government.
Any program aimed at inviting police officers into schools must include clear learning objectives, agreements and officer training. Some students and families may not experience a police presence as safe and the program must build positive relationships going forward.
In addition, it was completely unacceptable for the Minister of Education to dismiss the previous democratically elected School Board because she disagreed with their decision on this issue.
✔️🟢Angela Carmichael (incumbent)
I currently sit on The Board of Education, and was in full support of ending the SPLO program for various reasons. We had access to data across the District and Province, and I could see little to no positive data regarding police in schools. There are some arguments FOR policing in school, the main one being ” students should know and respect the work of First Responders”. To look at these front line workers as “the good guys.” While that is a fair point, the points against the SPLO, in my opinion, far outweigh that above mentioned argument.
Some students in our District may come from a background and a place in the world where police can come into your home and remove or harm with out cause or reason. There are cases where students have witnessed family members be arrested and it has caused lasting trauma. More recently and widely reported is what is happening in the United States with ICE violence. We would never want to have any student have anxiety about a uniformed officer taking them, or a caregiver away.
The decision by the appointed Trustee to pause reporting of police interaction with students is extremely concerning.
As a parent, I would be furious if a member of any Police Department spoke to my child about anything without a guardian or even council present. I would be very uncomfortable with a classroom being used to interrogate students, regardless of the reasoning. Even if only a small percentage of students are anxious or uncomfortable with the idea of police in their school, we have a duty to remove those feelings. Every single student in this District has the right to an education free of concern for their safety and free of anxiety due to any program. So because I believe that the individual needs of all students are equally important, I do not support the SPLO program.
✔️🔴Samantha Lathan, website
I describe myself as a progressive leftist, and I want to be transparent that not that long ago I found myself sympathetic to the ACAB movement. My thinking began to change, however, because of a certain political hero of mine, Bernard Sanders, the person who first inspired me to become involved in politics. Sanders has never shied away from acknowledging systemic racism, police violence or the need for fundamental reform and accountability, but he has also rejected the idea that the answer is to abolish policing. Instead, he has argued that police should be well-trained professionals who are part of the communities they serve, while responsibilities such as mental-health crises, addiction and other social problems should often be handled by appropriately trained community professionals instead. That distinction really challenged my own thinking. I understand why your organization feels the way it does, and I do not dispute the historical and ongoing harms policing has caused Indigenous, Black and other marginalized communities. I also strongly agree that we need greater investment in mental health, housing, youth services and other community supports rather than expecting police to solve problems that fundamentally aren’t policing problems.
Where I ultimately land differently is that I do support a formal SPLO program in SD61. I believe there is value in young people getting to know carefully selected police officers outside of enforcement situations, as mentors, educators and trusted members of their community. My support is not for simply recreating the former program or using police as substitutes for counsellors, EAs, social workers or mental-health professionals. I want a modern program with officers specifically suited and trained to work with children and at-risk youth, clearly defined boundaries, meaningful accountability and regular evaluation that takes seriously the experiences of students who have historically had difficult relationships with policing. I don’t see investing in community supports and building healthier relationships between young people and police as mutually exclusive. My own political evolution on this issue has actually made me more convinced that we should be able to acknowledge the failures and harms of policing while still asking what a better model of community policing could look like.
✖️James Chaney, website
✖️Piers MacDonald, website
✖️Tanner May Poole, website
✖️Evan Llewellyn, website
✖️Alexandra Bomphray
✖️Ann Whiteaker, website
✖️James Le, website
✖️Tracy Humphreys, website
✖️Andrea Mears, website
✖️Chésa Abma-Slade
✖️Rob Thomas
✖️Florence Dick
✖️Diane Sam
✖️Sebastian Horabin, website
✖️Gwynn Butchart, website
✖️James McAllister
✖️Ken Waldron
✖️Trevor Barry, website
John Rice: No contact information found in time for questionnaire