Should police be invited back into area schools? St. Thomas police chief says yes

St. Thomas City Council is advocating for the return of police officers to schools at the request of the St. Thomas Police Service (STPS) Chief who says violence is plaguing the city's schools.

A report approved by council is recommending the city send a delegation to the August 2024 conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).

There, that delegation would "request support from the [Ministry of Education] to instruct school boards to take decisive action ... and allow STPS officers to return to some form of school presence," according to the report.

"I feel we deserve an opportunity to be in schools to protect students, to offer safety and crime prevention options in the school environment. I think there's a place for the police to bridge the gaps with our with our children," said Chief Marc Roskamp, of the STPS.

He points to a province-wide rise in at-school violence as an example of why police are needed in schools.

To Roskamp, part of the problem lies in differences between London, St. Thomas, and other communities in the catchment area of the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB), which narrowly voted to keep officers out of schools in January.

That decision followed the pausing of the School Resource Officer program in 2021, and a review that led to the recommendation of a new police-involved pilot program, which was declined by trustees in a 7-6 vote.

The differences in needs and wants between the communities don't always align, said Roskamp, who said St. Thomas was overlooked in being lumped in with London.

"We feel there's a different story here," said Roskamp, pointing to the fact that the city's TVDSB and Catholic board trustees voted against the removal of police from schools. "We know the demographics. We are not London."

In Roskamp's opinion, he said, safety in schools would be improved with police presence.

"We're there to support the school community, and maybe we need to do a better job as police services and educate and inform the school community on how to lead a life away from the criminal justice system," he said. "Not to mention the benefits of crime deterrence [from police in schools]."

'Disingenuous' reasoning from police, activist claims

Andrea Vásquez Jiménez is the director of advocacy group Policing-Free Schools, and disputes that reasoning.

"There is no evidence to support the notion that these programs make educational spaces safer," she said. "There is ample evidence of the detrimental negative impacts of police in school programs on students."

According to Vásquez Jiménez, studies, like one commissioned by the Greater Essex County District School Board to review its school resource officer program, show marginalized students tend to be negatively impacted by the presence of police in schools.

"Police continue to seek a place in schools despite so many children being uncomfortable with it," she said. "It's always under the narrative of relationship building, but we believe there is surveillance and criminalization of young people."

The true solution to increasing violence in schools lies in proper funding and education for those schools, Vásquez Jiménez said, adding that overcrowded classrooms also contribute to violence.

"What we need is the new Minister of Education, Todd Smith, to choose to properly fund, properly resource our schooling and educational spaces, and divest from ... police in school programs."

St. Thomas Coun. Lori Baldwin-Sands, the daughter of a police officer, said she supports inviting police back into schools and argued that allowing police closer to students would allow trust to be built.

"Teachers don't have the tools in order to deal with this level of violence in schools. Inviting police officers back in will help students learn to trust the police," she said.

The next meeting of the AMO, during which Roskamp hopes city representatives will make their case to the education minister, takes place from August 18 to August 21.