The goal of the School Resource Officer program is to integrate School Resource Officers across senior, junior high and elementary schools. These officers perform three roles:

• Law-related education
• Law-related counselling
• Providing law enforcement

In this capacity, the officers provide a visible and positive image of law enforcement; bring expertise into schools that will help young people make more positive choices in their lives whilst working to protect the school environment.

The Calgary Police Service (CPS) and Calgary Police Commission (CPC) undertook a Service Optimization Review in 2018. One of the inputs into the development of recommendations and implementation phases, was an engagement process that gathered a diverse set of ideas from a wide range of Calgarians to deepen the current understanding of needs and expectations of service delivery.

A complete summary of what we heard from the Service Optimization Review engagement process is summarized here.

A second round of engagement was then completed in 2021, which focused specifically on the School Resource Officer program. While the engagement showed a generally high level of support for the School Resource Officer (SRO) program from teachers, Racialized students did not share this sentiment. Some Racialized students reported feeling fear and discomfort around the police officer in their school.

The summary of this phase of engagement is summarized here.

This finding triggered further exploration of these issues through this current round of engagement.

Based on feedback from students, teachers, teaching assistants, school administrators and parents, The Calgary Police Service’s goal is to improve the current Police Resource Office program. The desired outcome is a program delivery model that builds positive and trusting relationships where all students feel safe and supported by the presence of the officer in school.

We welcome feedback from all teachers, teaching assistants, administrators, and EDI/AR (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion/Anti-Racism) committee members.

It is especially important that we gather feedback from staff who are Racialized, identify as LGBTQ2S+ and/or living with a visible or non-visible disability.

Diverse adults in the school environment may offer varying perspectives on the role of police in schools and the current service delivery model. These perspectives, along with feedback from students in grades 4-12, will help collaborators reimagine what police engaging youth in schools should look like. Change cannot happen without your feedback.