Dozens of high school students protested against police presence

PROTEST / STUDENTS. About 100 students at a Toronto high school yesterday protested against a program created by the Toronto Police and the City School Board. Under this program, officers are assigned to schools with two darkfall gold: to ensure the safety of students and building good community relations. The initiative was established in response to a string of violent acts, including brutal attacks and murders committed inside some schools. The boys, however, are dissatisfied with the police presence in the hallways of their schools, ensuring that these are not “jail”.

Students at a school in Toronto at noon on Thursday held a march in protest at the initiative of the Toronto Police Service, under which officers patrolling your school.

More than 100 students began gathering outside Northern High School, located in Mt Pleasant Ave, near Eglinton Avenue, around 11:30 yesterday to participate in the peaceful demonstration. The children held up signs which said that their “school is not a prison or an institution controlled by the police.”

The program of School Resource Officers was created jointly by the Toronto Police and School Board Toronto District for about a couple of years. Under this initiative, police officers are assigned to different schools within their divisions, with the idea of patrolling the halls and make sure students are safe.

The objective of this program is not only improve security at schools in the city but also build positive relationships with the community.

But protest organizers said yesterday that students are convinced that the program is creating more problems than solutions for teenagers.

The protest was organized after an officer arrested a student from Northern school after an altercation inside the institution.

The teenager did not provide identification to prove he was a student at the Northern School and then disobeyed the orders of the officer who asked him to take office to clarify the situation.

The arrest was filmed by several students who used their phones as a camera and then got the videos to YouTube.

“If you look at the incident was posted on YouTube … Well, if a teacher had dealt with the matter it was resolved with a simple punishment or with a visit to the principal’s office,” said one student who participated in the organization of the march yesterday, at the scene. “But instead of that happening, we now have a situation where Northern is being poorly represented in the media and to other people. That we are creating problems. ”

Northern School is one of 50 in the city that has an officer on duty during hours of operation.

The head of the Toronto Police, Bill Blair, said the initial phase of this program was very well received last year, which is why it was decided to extend it.

“Our intention is to give officers a chance to meet these guys,” he said. “We want to build good community relations, relations based on trust and respect. This is not an easy relationship, it is difficult to build, which is why we have invested so much in this program. ”

He also said the program has faced “a certain level of resistance.”

“There are some people who still have doubts about what we are doing in these schools,” he said.

Blair said that adolescents are less likely to carry weapons inside schools and annoy your colleagues if they know that there is an officer within the premises.

The program was created primarily in response to a string of violent acts, including murder, committed within the city schools. Since its creation has “evolved as we learn lessons and receive greater acceptance of the students involved,” Blair said.