Ottawa police end school resource officer program at all four school boards

File photo.

OTTAWA -

The Ottawa Police Service will no longer have officers in schools in any of the four school boards in the city.

This follows the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), Ottawa's largest, voting to end its participation in the program at a board meeting earlier this month.

Police Chief Peter Sloly said Monday during a press conference that the OCDSB accounted for half of the school resource officer program (SRO).

"As a result of 50 per cent of our SRO program, given the volume of OCDSB, we have made the decision that we will also discontinue the overall program," Sloly said. "We are re-investing those resources into other important areas where we have significant demands on the police service."

Sloly said the money would instead go toward initiatives such as neighbourhood policing teams, the sexual assault and partner assault unit, and to the police service's mental health strategy.

"We still have unresolved demands on this police service and we now have the opportunity to redeploy some of those resources into those areas that we have demands on that we committed to in last year's budget and we committed to our community partners," he said.

OCDSB trustees voted two weeks ago to end the board's participation in the SRO program, citing a report from the board's Office of Human Rights and Equity Advisor.

"During the consultation process we heard from many community members who were deeply impacted by police intervention in OCDSB schools," said the report.

Trustees also voted to issue a formal apology to the communities and students harmed by the program and to ask the City of Ottawa to allocate the funds previously assigned to the OCDSB's share of the SRO program toward starting a mobile crisis team for youth.

"We have heard loud and clear from our community that there is no appetite for the continuation of this program," Trustee Lyra Evans said.

Sloly called the SRO program a "healthy and long-standing partnership" with the OCDSB, but said there had been "challenges and disappointments." He said police officers will still respond to calls at schools, even though the SRO program is coming to an end.

"So, although the program is cancelled, the relationship with those schools, from a legislative standpoint and from a youth services standpoint, will still be there, long-standing, well beyond the SRO program."