Rainbow Board, Police & Partners sign Community Threat Assessment Protocol

Front
row, from left: Norm Blaseg, Director of Education, Rainbow District School
Board; Frank Elsner, Chief of Police, Greater Subury Police Service; Kevin
Cameron, Director of the Alberta-based Canadian Centre for Threat Assessment
and Trauma Response; Elizabeth Kidd, Vice-President, Collège Boréal. Back row, from left: Pierre Riopel, Director
of Education, Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l’Ontario; Thomas Smith,
Clinical Manager, Crisis Intervention Program, Health Sciences North; Catherine
McCullough, Director of Education, Sudbury Catholic District School Board;
Lynne Holder, Manager, Ministry of Children and Youth Services, Youth Justice
Services (Probation); Robert Mayer, Superintendent, Conseil scolaire catholique
du Nouvel-Ontario; Colette Prevost, Executive Director, Sudbury-Manitoulin
Children’s Aid Society; Dr. Bertrand Guindon, Executive Director, Child and
Family Centre, Ngodweaangizwin Aaskaagewin; and Jim Hutton, Vice-President,
Cambrian College.

From left: Norm Blaseg, Director of Education, Rainbow District School
Board; Pierre Riopel, Director
of Education, Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l’Ontario; and Frank Elsner, Chief of Police, Greater Subury Police Service sign the Community Threat Assessment Protocol on March 26, 2012, pledging to work
together to ensure schools remain safe for students and staff.

Representatives of the Greater Sudbury Police Service,
area school boards and local agencies signed a Community Threat Assessment Protocol yesterday, pledging to work
together to ensure schools remain safe for students and staff.

The Community Threat Assessment Protocol is a
collaborative response to student behaviour that may pose a risk to other
students, staff and members of the community. Under the initiative, school
boards, police and community partners will share information, advice and
support. Plans will be developed to minimize risk.

“Safe schools is a shared responsibility that requires
collaboration, cooperation and effective communication,” said Greater Sudbury
Police Chief Frank Elsner. “This protocol will enable us to work together to
assess threats and implement early interventions. Our goal is to prevent incidents
or avert further escalation.”He added: “The strength of the partnership
lies in the multi-disciplinary composition of the response team.The members will review relevant information
and draw on a broad range of expertise.This united approach will respect the individual’s rights to privacy and
the safety of all.”

The protocol is
based on the work of Kevin Cameron, Director of the Alberta-based Canadian
Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response. Kevin Cameron is a Diplomat
with the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and a Board Certified
Expert in Traumatic Stress.He has years
of clinical experience, including working in the Child Welfare and Young
Offender systems in Canada, providing high-risk assessment and intervention
with children, youth and families.

The protocol
outlines roles and responsibilities and defines policies and procedures. Partners
will build working relationships based on mutual respect and trust. Together,
they will help children and youth become happy, healthy, active, involved, and
caring members of the community.

Greater Sudbury Police Service is the lead partner in
the Community Threat Assessment Protocol with the four local school boards –
Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario, Conseil scolaire public du Grand
Nord de l’Ontario, Rainbow District School Board and Sudbury Catholic District
School Board.

Additional community partners include Cambrian
College, Child and Family Centre/Centre de l’enfant et de la
famille/Ngodweaangizwin Aaskaagewin, Sudbury-Manitoulin Children’s Aid
Society/La Société d’aide à l’enfance des district de Sudbury et du Manitoulin,
Collège Boréal, Health Sciences North/Horizon Santé-Nord, and the Ministry of
Children and Youth Services – Probation/Ministère des Services
à l’enfance et à la jeunesse, Services de justice pour la jeunesse – Probation.