A Westlock RCMP initiative designed to positively connect with area youth has been a success, so far, according to an officer overseeing the program.
Last May, Westlock RCMP spearheaded the Positive Ticketing Program which was tasked with improving police interactions with area youth.
“It’s going really well,” Const. Janelle Meyer, the officer behind the program, said.
So far 58 of the program’s 60 tickets have been awarded to youth for wearing bike helmets and protective equipment at the skate park, walking bikes across the street and wearing their seatbelts.
Children caught doing good deeds are able to cash in the tickets for prizes, such as smoothies and burgers, at local stores.
One of the main goals of the program has been to improve police interaction with youth, something Meyer thinks is working.
“A lot of the children have been surprised. We get up to them and they think they’re in trouble, but they’re really surprised when they get a positive ticket for wearing their helmet,” she said.
“I’m hoping that this allows kids to have that positive interaction with us. If they’re ever in trouble, or need help from us that they’ll be comfortable coming to us and not have any fear.”
Meyer hopes that the positive interactions police have now with youth help fight negative pop culture images of police.
“That’s a definite stigma with the police, is that if we’re coming around there must be trouble,” she said.
“We’re just trying to have positive experience with kids so if they need our help they can come to us.”
Both the Town of Westlock and Westlock County have thrown their support behind the initiative and are pleased with the outcome.
“We spend too much of our time telling people what they can’t do and not enough time telling people what they do right,” Westlock County reeve Bud Massey added.
Part of the program’s genesis was a 2015 RCMP audit that identified police street interaction as an area for improvement.
“We absolutely support the efforts of Sgt. Dwayne Rawson, the detachment and Const. Meyer,” added mayor Ralph Leriger said.
“It certainly helps to establish a positive relationship with the RCMP and the youth in our community.”
Leriger also thinks the program will have a positive impact for RCMP officers themselves, who usually spend their time dealing with the less savoury tasks on a daily basis.
“I would expect that [the program] has a side benefit for the morale of our officers,” Leriger added.
“A steady diet of negative encounters must be extremely tedious. I would think that they welcome these positive interactions with our youth.”
Although winter has slowed the program, Meyer expects it to pick up as weather warms.
“Tickets have definitely slowed down. Since the cold weather, there’s not a lot of kids around. We’re still actively seeking kids who are doing things like shoveling,” she said.
Due to limited resources, the program was slated to end in March, However, Meyer hopes to continue fostering positive interactions with the town’s youth.
“I’m hoping that this is a program that sticks around in the Town of Westlock forever.”
