School resource officers explain risk assessment process

Safety in schools has become a hot topic across the province after a pair of concerning incidents at schools in Saskatchewan’s largest cities.

Earlier this month, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly set on fire by a fellow student at Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon, and two students in Regina were chased by two or three people who threatened to assault them with bear spray.

Sgt. Todd Jerome, the head of Regina’s school resource officers, explained that safety in the school and community is the top priority for officers at all times.

“If there’s a charge against the person, a lot of times they are released with conditions of not attending the school, or wherever the incident took place, or not to be within a certain distance of the victim of the incident,” Jerome explained during an appearance on The Evan Bray Show.

Listen to Jerome and Kane on The Evan Bray Show:

Sgt. Ken Kane, the head of the Saskatoon school resource officers,  also joined Evan Bray on Monday. He said school resource officers use assessments to identify high-risk students, which act as an early warning system for potential threats.

To begin the assessment process, Kane said there is usually an incident at school that triggers the principal to call school resource officers, saying there is some concerning behaviour.

Kane said that prompts a meeting with school administration, a school resource officer, the student and a guardian, and depending on the severity of the situation, the superintendent, social services, or mental health and addictions services may also attend.

He said they try to bring forward as many resources as possible “to figure out what is happening and understand why the behaviour is occurring, so that we can be preventative moving forward.”

If the assessment determines the risk is high enough for police to intervene, then criminal charges can be laid.

“Ultimately, the school boards are OK with that, but I think they look at it as every child does have a right to an education, so they’re trying to work within that system to make sure that this person can still get an education,” said Kane.

Bray said multiple sources have told him that the student at the centre of the attack in Saskatoon was the subject of numerous violent threat risk assessments. He asked Kane whether or not the assessments are working.

“It’s a bit of a loaded question there, but obviously in that case it’s hard to say that it did work,” Kane said.

“I think, for the most part, they do work. They do give us sort of an early warning system about whether or not this person is going to be a risk down the road.”

However, Kane explained, many students who undergo risk assessments do not engage in behaviour that reaches the criminal threshold, meaning charges would not be supported.

“You have to also remember that the Youth Criminal Justice Act and our own internal policies direct us to keep youth(s) out of the criminal justice system,” Kane added.

“So we’re directed, as much as we can, to not put these people into the system because, generally, once they get into the criminal justice system they’re not going to get the help that they need for whatever the issue would be.”

“In this case,” he added, “I think you’re trying to predict human behaviour, which, at the end of the day, we know 100 per cent of the time we can’t.”

Kane explained that school resource officers are “only one voice at the table” when it comes to determining what happens with high-risk students.

“If we don’t lay a criminal charge and release that person on  conditions to not go to that school or have contact with the victim – if that’s what the occurrence was – then ultimately, the school board will be the ones that will determine where that student will go and what their education looks like,” Kane said.

One minor was charged with possession of a weapon after a complaint about bear spray prompted a lockdown at Regina’s Miller Comprehensive Catholic High School and restrictions at four other local schools on Friday.

The 14 year old girl accused of setting the 15 year old on fire in Saskatoon is in custody and facing four charges, including attempted murder, aggravated assault, arson, and unlawfully causing bodily harm to someone other than the student.