New police report outlines how to reduce youth violence in the region

Waterloo Regional Police (WRPS) have outlined a series of initiatives it hopes will bring down the rate of violent incidents involving youth.

Youth crime involvement numbers have stabilized over the last four years, as since 2019, police are having about 15,000 interactions per year with youth aged 17 or younger.

The report is to be presented in a report to the Police Services Board at a meeting tomorrow.

The first initiative is the Youth Engagement Strategy (YES), which was developed from the results of the Waterloo Region Children and Youth Planning Table’s Youth Impact Study. It gathered information from a wide selection of youth from all different demographics and asked questions regarding their lives in the region, including the impacts of crime.

YES is the groundwork on which all interactions and policies involving youth engagement are built.

The second initiative involves a research partnership between WRPS and the University of Waterloo, looking to identify possible solutions to the various forms of youth violence in the region. The research will take place over the next year with a report to be presented in August 2025.

The third initiative is the development of a youth violence intervention framework that will involve community partners. The focus will be on weapons use and how to best support young people in their neighbourhoods or social circles. It will also provide support to the families of victims and support the development of social infrastructure to better connect youth with their communities.

The fourth initiative is a updating of the agreement between police and local school boards. It will outline the roll police play within the school community, interactions with students and provide guidance for the reporting of incidents.

Police said they are committed to reducing youth violence through innovative, community and system partnerships.