The Removal of Student Police Liaison Officers In The Victoria School District
To SD 61 Board and Representatives,
The Support Network For Indigenous Women and Women of Colour (SNIWWOC) would like to express our full support for the removal of Student Police Liaison Officers within the Victoria School District SD 61. I believe full heartedly that research shows clearly the negative impact of police presence within schools for Black, Indigenous and Youth of Colour. We believe that it's the job of the board to properly assess the presented information and make informed decisions based on best practices for creating inclusive and safe schools in the Victoria area.
SNIWWOC is no stranger to the accounts of police violence in BIPOC communities and we know all too well the deep need for reform within policing across Canada as a whole. We urge you to be mindful of how the larger statistics reflect on the deep need for you to consider the implications of police presence in schools. While the instances of harm by police on racialized people in our greater community seem far away from the life of students at school, the reality is that they are witnessing the violence in real time.
BC government statistics show that Indigenous people make 6% of the total population but represent a staggering 35% of all incarcerations in British Columbia.
The 2021 Greater Victoria Local Immigration Partnership Network Survey revealed that 30% of BIPOC residents have experienced racism from local police. 45% of residents disagreed that VicPD acts in a fair manner when dealing with racial, religious, and ethnic communities (2015, SOLID). VicPD's general occurrence reports from 2016 to 2021 do show them disproportionately policing BIPOC youth. 19.38% of people VicPD labeled as "Youth-Suspects" in their general occurrence reports were Indigenous, even though Indigenous people make up only 5.04% of Victoria and Esquimalt's population. Black youth were 3.75 times as likely as white youth to show up in a VicPD general occurrence report as "Charged."
We think it is fair to conclude that VicPD targets BIPOC youth. These harms are replicated when the school district provides police with access to schools.
If you look at instances of police violence on Black, Indigenous and People of Colour in Canada- the consensus in the data shows our communities are vastly more impacted by police violence than that of our white counterparts. The 2021 Vancouver School Board review of the SLO program revealed that 75% of black students said the SLO program does not contribute to a sense of positive community in schools. 60% of black students said the SLO program does not contribute to a sense of safety in schools.
These feelings of unsafety are not surprising. In 2017, 30% of 67 SLO incident reports came from Esquimalt High School, which we all know has a large demographic of BIPOC students. In 2019, VicPD submitted 128 incident reports for arrests at schools or on school property. Only 4% of 2017 SLO incident reports indicate they may have begun with a student reaching out to an SLO. This means that police enforcement is happening on SD61 property while the SLO program is falsely advertised as a community policing tool focused on diversion from the criminal justice system. Armed police are not an appropriate student support or disciplinary response.
In the Report of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, on Systemic Racism In Policing In Canada it states
“Given the pervasive nature of systemic racism in policing in Canada, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (the Committee) has concluded that a transformative national effort is required to ensure that all Indigenous, Black and other racialized people in Canada are not subject to the discrimination and injustice that is inherent in the policing system as it exists today.”
If governing bodies are willing to examine that there is demonstatable racism, systemic and otherwise, within the police - why would we continue to uphold the institution as a practice within our schools? This institution has proven to be harmful to already marginalized communities. Why would schools want to be the place that continues the act of marginalization?
Considering that 69% of respondents in the 2022 SD61 SLO survey report identified as white, we feel this gives a poor representation of the true impact police presence has on racialized students and is an incomplete assessment. 559 respondents were “uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” with SLOs in schools, including 101 students. Dozens of respondents also reported “negative” or “very negative” past interactions with SLOs, including:
· 32 BIPOC respondents (10 students);
· 13 Indigenous respondents (two students);
· 60 2SLGBTQIA+ respondents (18 students); and
· 107 white respondents (21 students)
While these numbers may seem small in comparison to the larger student population, we would argue that any discomfort in a child’s place of learning should be addressed by the administration placed in charge. These students, and the many other BIPOC families that didn’t have their voices heard in this survey, and the many countless BIPOC people across the city who have had violence perpetrated against them by police - deserve to have their calls of reform heard. If nothing else, we hope you consider if even one student feels unsafe with SLOs in schools, it should prompt a quick response from administrators to end the program. Every child deserves to feel safe and welcomed in school and in their community.
Sincerely,
Joni Oldhoff