Sword attack underscores need for police in schools: premier

The premier is urging the largest school board in Manitoba to re-invite uniformed police officers to work on its campuses in the wake of a violent attack at a high school in Brandon.

The Winnipeg School Division stopped paying for nine school resource officers, better known as SROs, in 2021.

Trustees — who, at the time, were under pressure from critics concerned the program was an example of police overreach and made racialized students feel unsafe — cited budget pressures.

Other divisions have continued to partner with their local police service to host constables to deliver presentations on everything from bullying to drugs and to undertake threat assessments, among other tasks.

Three days after a student tipped off an SRO about a threat at Neelin High School, Premier Wab Kinew publicly thanked the unnamed constable who was part of the subsequent response.

“Your quick-thinking, your decisive action, your compassion, really prevented a really bad situation from becoming potentially even worse. You’re a hero,” Kinew said Friday during a news conference about safety efforts in Winnipeg.

The event was located at The Forks, about 250 kilometres east of the Grade 9-12 campus that is reeling from a sword attack.

A 16-year-old male has been charged with attempted murder after repeatedly stabbing the student. The victim, also a teenage boy, is recovering from serious injuries.

Brandon Police Service Chief Tyler Bates credited the proactive planning between police and the local school division, much of which is done via SROs, for a “seamless” response to the incident.

Bates said all officers on the scene showed “exceptional bravery, professionalism and restraint.” A taser was deployed to arrest the suspect, he said.

Police and school officials said a student contacted the building’s designated SRO directly at 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday to report that someone was acting erratically and in possession of a weapon.

The SRO was working out of police headquarters dealing with another incident when he got a call directly from a student, said Janet Reichert, a communications officer for the police service.

School staff learned an armed male was in the building around the same time and immediately called 911 and put the building into lockdown, as per a memo issued by the Brandon School Division.

Asked about his thoughts on SROs being cut from campuses in Winnipeg, the premier spoke about his positive experience with the police-in-schools program as both a father and MLA.

Kinew has three boys, two of whom are currently enrolled in the Winnipeg School Division.

He recalled socializing with an SRO at high school hockey games when they were still actively working in his division.

“I’ve seen that SROs are positive for my kids’ schools and schools in my community and when you see a heroic action like we saw in Brandon this week, then it really speaks to another dimension,” he said.

One of the reason SROs exist is to build relationships between police and young people, Kinew noted.

He urged WSD to consider reinstating SROs — whose salaries are paid through partnerships between divisions, police and the province — although he indicated he is not issuing a directive.

Matt Henderson, superintendent of the division that has 80 buildings in central Winnipeg, said the subject has not been raised on any trustee agendas this year.

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School board chair Kathy Heppner did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a study on the experiences of students who are Indigenous, Black and people of colour with racism, policing and school safety in 2022. It was informed by interviews with 24 youth, 13 caregivers and two indivdiuals affiliated with a community organization in the Winnipeg’s North End or downtown core.

“In discussing their feelings toward school police officers, participants used words such as ‘distressed,’ ‘intimidated,’ ‘scared’ and ‘paranoid,’” author Fadi Ennab wrote in the report, “Safer Schools Without Policing Indigenous and Black Lives in Winnipeg.”

“The mere presence of police in schools was perceived to be a cause of harm and injustice.”

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter

Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie.

Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.

Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.