Local educators and police say they are concerned Lac La Biche County Council might axe the community’s dedicated in-school RCMP officer program.
Three years ago, the county entered into a contract with the RCMP for an officer who would spend time in schools throughout the community doing proactive work with the students. The municipality and the provincial government share cost, with the county responsible for $125,000 annually.
Besides being a consistent police presence in the classroom, the resource officer also serves on crime-related boards – like the drug coalition and the men’s shelter – and participates in events in the community. Since 2008, RCMP Const. Megan Purton has been that officer. However, six months into her term she went on maternity leave for a year and a half – which some members of council said cast doubt on the usefulness of her tenure.
“I think there is some hesitancy and some concern,” said mayor Peter Kirylchuk on whether or not they will renew her contract. “Council needs assurance that there’s going to be a body there.”
However, Purton has made positive impressions in the year she’s been back on the job. J. A. Williams High School principal Terry Moghrabi said he is totally against removing the resource officer, calling Purton’s services “invaluable.” He added that any decision to pull funding clashes with plans for the Bold Center high school to include spaces for police, mental health, and other social agencies.
“In our area, the needs are so high – we have students who have issues of a legal nature,” Moghrabi said, noting that in one 10-day period the school referred 19 legal matters to police. “It would be unnatural to pull that funding because when we build the new school we have plans to build government services into the facility – so it’s interesting they’re considering pulling the funding now.”
He said council has yet to consult with his school on the matter.
“It’s important that [council] recognize that in this community we have to take care of the clutter of health and legal issues before we can properly teach these kids,” Moghrabi said.
Purton said many students don’t normally have a chance to interact with police in a positive way, and when they do it goes a long way to curbing criminal behaviour. Purton, who says she has built first-name relationships with many students, is in schools throughout the county Monday to Friday providing structured programming dealing with everything from bike safety to bullying.
“There are kids in high-risk families that are taught not to trust the police,” she said. “Getting to see a police officer in a personal setting is a proactive way to keep them on the right path.”
At the Nov. 8 Lac La Biche County Council meeting, RCMP Inspector and former Lac La Biche Staff Sergeant Brian Sutherland stressed the proven benefits of having an in-school officer.
“Once a group of people are involved with that lifestyle, be it with drugs or break and enters, it’s very difficult to change that,” Sutherland said. “But it’s very successful to work with these kids before they get into a life of crime. If you speak to the youth, befriend them, and identify the ones who may be starting down the wrong road – it works miracles.”
Some councillors raised concerns that they weren’t seeing tangible results for the taxpayer’s money. Councillor Alvin Kumpula asked if there was any difference in the crime levels when Purton was absent, and if the county was on the hook financially while she was gone.
“It’s impossible for us to say there was an increase or decrease in crime,” Sutherland said, adding the county didn’t pay into the contract while she was on maternity leave. “But generally you won’t see immediate results – it reduces the crime in the future.”
While the RCMP weren’t able to provide concrete statistics that Purton has reduced crime, what is crystal clear is educators don’t want to see her absent from their hallways. She was active in the four public schools in the Hamlet of Lac La Biche as well as in Plamondon, running the drug awareness program D.A.R.E., and giving seminars on the legal implications of inappropriate use of the Internet and cell phones.
“If they pull funding, we’ll have the rug pulled out from under us,” said Ecolé Plamondon School principal Morris Holota. “We’ll see behaviour escalate and our staff will have to deal with that.”
Council will decide whether or not to carry the community resource officer position during budget deliberations in January. In the meantime, many are hoping Purton is able to stay in the community’s hallways and classrooms.
“She has been very good, working with the kids,” Moghrabi said. “When she walks from class to class, you can tell she is making a difference.”
