Police chief says decision to end school resource officer program is ‘disappointing’ and ‘upsetting’
Posted Jul 6, 2021 08:30:00 PM.
The Region's top cop says he was blindsided by a decision late last month by the Waterloo Region District School Board to cancel the school resource officer program.
“I actually found out through the media that was moving forward,” said Waterloo Region Police Chief Bryan Larkin during a chat with The Mike Farwell Show on 570 NEWS. “And so, 30 years of relationships and nobody from the school board contacted the [police] service.”
WRDSB voted to end the program during a June 21st meeting after it was paused about a year earlier amid calls to defund the police.
“My disappointment is that they were looking at doing a significant review but, in the end, I don't believe that students had a say or a true voice,” said Larkin.
That was a concern raised during last month's meeting, specifically that the decision would most significantly impact students and police though those two groups were largely not consulted.
“That's not saying that our program couldn't have been tweaked, reviewed, re-imagined, I think there were opportunities,” Larkin said.
Despite those concerns, the school board voted eight to two in favour of scrapping the program. One trustee abstained.
