November 13, 2009

On October 19th, 2009, Detective Barry Ramsay and School Liaison Officer, Constable Alain Bedard of the North Bay Police Service traveled to Abington, Pennsylvania to meet with members of their police department and review the various programs they have developed over the years to address and enhance relationships with the youth in their community.

Abington is a city of 56,000 citizens situated immediately north of the City of Philadelphia. Abington has virtually the same population and police officer compliment as North Bay, although in a significantly smaller geographical area. Despite the fact that they are located near the city with the highest homicide rate in the U.S.A., they have been recognized as one of the 100 safest communities in the country.

Abington has only one high school (Grades 10-12) and one junior high school (grades 7-9). Each school has approximately 2, 000 students. The Abington P.D. has assigned one full time officer to each school. Both have their own offices in the schools and their daily presence is welcome and expected. They deal with enforcement issues and act as an educational and information resource. This position is very similar to the School Liaison Officer of the North Bay Police Service, with the primary difference being that the schools have the undivided attention of their SRO. Interestingly, one of these positions is fully funded by the School Board.

It was noted that the Abington officers had developed a strong rapport with the students and that the officers’ presence in the schools was welcome and expected by both the students and staff.

The Abington Police Department also offers the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program to all levels of education and have 11 D.A.R.E. officers assigned.

The North Bay officers were also introduced to Abington’s Adopt-A-Cop program where specific officers are assigned a school within their area of patrol to act as a liaison between the school and the police department. This has increased the police presence in the schools and created a more positive image of police.

Abington’s Youth Aid Panel (Y.A.P.), similar to North Bay’s Youth Justice Committee, is a pre-charge diversion program, whereby five-person panels consisting of committed community volunteers, deal with first-time young offenders in a quasi-judicial process. The youth are referred by police and given relevant consequences for their actions, such as apology letters, community service hours or restitution.

The officers were surprised and impressed by the large number of volunteers that the Abington P.D. had at their disposal in order to properly operate and manage their youth programs. It was apparent that the community was a significant partner with the police.

The Abington Community Task Force (A.C.T.) and the Citizens and Police Together (C.A.P.T.), are non-profit organizations that work with the other youth related stakeholders within the community and are primarily staffed by volunteers. They engage in fund-raising and have created a website to educate and update the community on current and ongoing activities. The fundraisers continue on an annual basis and are often complimented by private contributions.

The information obtained by the North Bay officers during their visit to Abington Police Department will be used to enhance the existing youth related and school programs of the North Bay Police Service within the community. In recognizing the importance of proactive youth related police programs, Chief Paul Cook has stated, “This is all about community mobilization and finding a way to involve police in existing programs and agencies”,