British Columbia is working hard to ensure students can thrive, be themselves, feel safe and seek help. Student safety is paramount and can only be realized through ongoing focus on fostering safe and caring school environments and ensuring schools and communities have appropriate prevention, intervention and response strategies in place.
K-12 Organized Crime & Exploitation Prevention
Addressing exploitation involving youth is a top safety priority for B.C., and one that requires strong partnerships between schools, police, families and other members of the community.
The K-12 Organized Crime & Exploitation Prevention Initiative is a key component of the erase strategy, supporting B.C. communities to help divert young people from exploitation by organized crime and on track for a brighter future. 9 school districts were selected to receive this specialized funding, including Cariboo-Chilcotin, Chilliwack, Delta, Fraser-Cascade, Pacific Rim, Prince Rupert, Saanich, Southeast Kootenay and Vancouver Island North.
This initiative aims to provide partnership and outreach support to communities at risk of exploitation by organized crime. This includes education sessions for school district staff, police, parents, students and community partners, and grants to support the development of local capacity.
Safe school teams across the province have access to resources, contact information and more through the K-12 Organized Crime and Exploitation Prevention Sharepoint website (secured access). Access to the website is restricted to safe school coordinators and their teams. Request access by clicking the link or contacting your district’s safe school coordinator.
A suite of online resources has been developed to increase awareness, knowledge and competencies related to gang and gun violence prevention in B.C. K-12 school communities. The resources are for educators and school support staff, parents and students.
Gangs and guns for all:
Each Guide is comprised of four chapters supported by the videos below.
Videos:
Educator resources:
Community Violence Threat Risk Assessment Protocols
The Community Violence Threat Risk Assessment Protocol Guide for British Columbia (PDF) supports school districts in creating and maintaining local agreements with community partners to work together using the Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) model. The guide outlines key components of a community VTRA protocol, and provides detailed information on the VTRA model including a complete VTRA tool kit with forms, checklists, tips and sample documents.
Provincial school-police guidelines
School safety is a shared responsibility that requires cooperation, collaboration and communication. Partnerships between schools and police play a particularly important role when it comes to preventing and responding to serious incidents involving:
Maintaining School Safety: A Guide for School and Police Personnel in B.C. (PDF, 1.3MB) supports schools and police across the province to provide consistent, coordinated and effective responses to school safety incidents. The guide is intended to help clarify roles, responsibilities and shared safety procedures; improve information sharing between schools, police and families; and support the development of local community protocols for violence and threat risk assessment
If you think your child is involved in a youth gang…
If you’d like to report something and/or are a concerned friend….
If you’re already involved in a gang and want to leave . . .