New Westminster Schools vote to bring back police liaison program

The New Westminster School District is in the process of bringing back its school police liaison officer program after a unanimous vote by trustees on Tuesday night.

Coun. Paul Minhas believes the decision by the school board is a good one, as he’s always advocated for the return of the program after it was phased out four years ago.

Minhas says that the unanimous decision by school board trustees shows it is the right move.

“I am very, very proud of how school trustee Kathleen Carlson brought the motion forward, and with all the crime rising in the downtown core, throughout the city, other municipalities, it is important that we safeguard our children, and what we do and how we do it is also very, very important,” Minhas told 1130 NewsRadio on Wednesday morning.

The school board ended its school liaison officer program in 2021 following a similar move by the Vancouver School Board and other districts over concerns about the impact of police presence in schools, particularly on racialized and 2SLGBTQ students.

At the time, a number of residents, concerned parents, and students in the area expressed why they believed the program should be scrapped. At the 2021 vote, Andrea Vazquez told trustees that it was simply a “systemic issue.”

“There’s no school board, or city or town, or rural area that is exempt from systemic issues. What we need to do is centre those who are most negatively impacted, which are Black, Indigenous, racialized among the intersectional identity markers of queer, trans, disabled and neurodivergent folks … This is a systemic issue and must be taken upon with the removal of the Child and Youth liaison officer program,” Vazquez said.

While not having any children in the city’s school system, Minahs says that after previously working with a New West high school jazz band and extra needs programs, he believes that focusing on children, “especially in this day and age, is way more important today than it ever was before.”

Minhas says trustee Carlson had been in conversation with him and Coun. Daniel Fontaine about the possible return of the program.

“Both her and trustee Danielle Connelly, they were in agreement that this is something that they needed to bring forward. They had talked to a lot of parents, as well as, I believe, the DPAC, if I remember correctly … and they were all in agreeance that this needs to come forward for the safety, first and foremost, for the children,” he added.

Minhas explains that the city council and school board are hearing from students and parents that there are children who currently do not feel safe.

“We are hearing that time and time again from a lot of different parents, as well as young students. So, it is important that we listen to their voices. Their voices need to be heard as well,” he said.

As for parents and other school community members who do not want to see a return of the PLO program, Minhas says that the needs of children who have been complaining about the lack of police in schools need to be respected.

“We cannot ignore that for far too long. We have ignored it, and we have had not so good results, and we need to put this program back into play, where we meet the requirements of all the children and the parents,” he said.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the safety of the children, and there are a lot of people that are complaining that there are issues within the school system and that we need to address the issues. And hence, in my personal opinion it is important to bring the police liaisons back into the school system.”

Moving forward, Minhas explains that the board’s administration will need to sit down with the New Westminster Police Department to create a plan for the reintroduction of police officers in schools.

1130 NewsRadio has reached out to the New Westminster Police Department for comment.