Public school board's police resource officer review committee seeks volunteers
New review committee will be made up of students, parents, caregivers and staff
Students, parents, guardians and teachers who want to have a say on the future of the police school resource officer program in the Waterloo Region District School Board can now apply to be on the review committee.
The board announced earlier this fall it will review the school resource officer program and its relationship with police after suspending the program in June. The program saw Waterloo Regional Police Service 10 officers posted to schools in the region.
Scott Piatkowski, school board vice chair, is behind the proposal.
"I think that a lot of different institutions in society are revealing their relationship with the police and that comes out of the Black Lives Matter movement. It comes out of the Indigenous rights movement and we need to respond to that," said Piatkowski.
"Any program that is 20 years old definitely needs to be reviewed. But we had never reviewed the school resource officer program and it definitely was time."
The committee will review the history and current scope of the program. It'll look into data such as the number and type of infractions or arrests, as well as reach out to other school boards with similar programs.
The group will also consider rationales for discontinuing and program.
The review committee will consist of 19 members. Interested candidates have until Dec. 15 to apply.