A new kind of hall monitor

The Canadian government needs to act, not react, to address the issue of crime in at risk neighborhoods. It’s a recommendation that not only benefits the sake of the children of these neighborhoods, but all Ontarians.

Take C. W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute for example. The school’s been in the media spotlight in the last three years but for all the wrong reasons. Thousand-and-seven marked the year where 15-year-old Jordan Manners was shot and killed by an unknown gunman.

The school would make more headlines a year later after a 16-year-old was stabbed and taken to Sunnybrook Hospital with serious injuries.
The school has become a catalyst in the efforts to have armed and full uniformed Toronto Police Officers stationed in schools. Roughly two years have passed and an evaluation report was released mid-November of 2009 with high praises for the program.

However, what the evaluation fails to address is the rising budget of the police force in the city’s budget in relation to the overall decrease in crime in the last decade. Coupled with the fact these police officers replaced school social workers, the School Resource Officer initiative is a knee jerk reaction to a problem with deeper roots.