British ColumbiaPolice liaison officers are back in Greater Victoria schools this week, after the program was cancelled in May 2023. Officials say the officers won’t be stationed in schools full-time, but that they will spend time in each school to connect with students and help teach about safety.Liaison officers back in SD61 after a 2-year hiatus that included the entire school board being firedKathryn Marlow · CBC News · Posted: Sep 05, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoPolice liaison officers are returning to Greater Victoria schools this year. Saanich PD Chief Const. Dean Duthie says their focus will be on teaching safety and building trust with students. (Mike McArthur/CBC, Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press)Police liaison officers are back in Greater Victoria schools this week, after a two-year hiatus. It’s part of the new Greater Victoria School District 61 (SD61) safety plan, which was created in the wake of the firing of the district’s nine elected trustees in January. Liaison officers will not be stationed in schools full time, but will be assigned to spend time in each of the district’s schools, connecting with students and helping educate them on safety matters. “Sometimes they’re coming in as an invitation to speak to an entire school. Sometimes it’s individual classes, and other times it’s really supporting individual students who may be at risk or leaning towards something that they may need support [with],” said school superintendent Deb Whitten, speaking to CBC’s All Points West. LISTEN | SD61 superintendent talks about back-to-school changes: All Points WestGreater Victoria School District goes back to schoolGreater Victoria School District superintendent Deb Whitten discusses the new safety plan, representation, cell phone bans and the challenges of the coming school year.According to the safety plan, police officers can help schools teach students about “cyber/social media online safety, mental health and substance use, vandalism, sextortion, bullying, racism, consent, gang activity, and violence prevention.”They may also teach about traffic safety and crime prevention. The officers will come from the four police bodies that overlap with the Greater Victoria School District: the Victoria, Saanich and Oak Bay police departments, as well as the West Shore RCMP detachment. Saanich PD Chief Const. Dean Duthie said the core function of the program is to build relationships. LISTEN | Saanich PD chief discusses return of police to schools: On The IslandGreater Victoria School District’s police liaison program returnsGregor Craigie speaks with Saanich PD Chief Dean Duthie about adding 25 more schools to his officers’ workload.”These officers attend schools to engage with students to get to know them better and vice versa. Because it’s all about human relationships and connection that builds trust and confidence,” said Duthie to CBC’s On the Island. He said that can happen through formal presentations in classrooms or in informal conversations in school hallways or on playgrounds. Liaison program cancelled in 2023 When the program was cancelled in May 2023, after a years-long review process, the school board cited a number issues, including potential harm caused to students from marginalized communities who felt unsafe around police. It also pointed to a lack of consistency in what each officer did in the schools, and noted there had been no opportunity to review the program.But then police, municipal governments, local First Nations and some parent groups began calling for the program to return. Last fall, then minister of education Rachna Singh ordered the board of trustees to create a school safety plan. A few months later, new minister Lisa Beare said the plan wasn’t satisfactory and ordered the board to work with a special advisor. In January, the B.C. government fired the board of education, with Beare saying it “failed to work together with local First Nations, police and other key stakeholders to prioritize student safety.”B.C. Education Minister Lisa Beare fired SD61 school board trustees and installed an interim trustee in January. (Mike McArthur/CBC)The government appointed one person, Sherri Bell, to replace the nine elected trustees and serve as board chair until the next municipal elections in 2026. The fired trustees will be in court in November, arguing the province had no right to fire them. New safety plan to be reviewed each yearBell worked with district and school staff, police and local First Nations representatives to develop the new safety plan, which includes bringing liaison officers back into schools. The plan says police will use a “trauma-informed approach” when working in schools, and that the safety plan will be reviewed annually. Julie Chanin, chief constable of the Oak Bay Police Department, told CBC News she understands that not all students will have positive feelings about police — but that she thinks having uniformed officers in schools can help change that. “That’s where there is already a sense of safety. And if we can … develop that relationship where the police are seen as someone that you can trust and humanize the person behind the uniform, I think [that’s] really important.”But B.C.’s human rights commissioner, Kasari Govender, says there isn’t enough existing evidence to know if school liaison officer programs work in Canada. She has repeatedly called on the provincial government to fund a research project to fill what she calls “significant gaps in evidence,” saying school districts should not use liaison officers until that happens.But B.C.’s human rights commissioner, Kasari Govender, has called for more research on the impact of having school liaison officer programs in Canada. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)”We simply don’t have enough research to say definitively one way or another whether they will help keep our young people safe and thriving,” she wrote in a letter to the education and public safety ministers after the Greater Victoria school trustees were fired. Saloumeh Pourmalek, chair of the Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, said she’s heard mixed reactions from parents about the return of liaison officers to the area’s schools — but that they’ve been mostly positive. “A few parents that I spoke to are happy about having the police liaison officers back,” she told CBC’s On the Island. “Their concerns are around safety in schools, around school perimeters and gang involvements and drug trafficking, which they hope that would curb with more police presence.”She acknowledged there are some parents and students who may be anxious about police presence in schools, and said her group is “leaving the door open for dialogue.”At the district level, Supt. Whitten said there are complaint processes available for people who have concerns about police in schools, and the safety plan overall.ABOUT THE AUTHORKathryn Marlow is a reporter for CBC Victoria, and the host/producer of the podcast This is Vancouver Island. She covers stories in greater Victoria, and across the whole Vancouver Island region. You can reach her at kathryn.marlow@cbc.ca. With files from On the Island and All Points West
Police returning to Greater Victoria schools with mandate to build trust, chief says
