Prince Albert schools renew threat assessment protocol for new year

“(If) other stakeholders would benefit from either sharing information that they have available to them or being part of that risk analysis process and then coming up with a plan to respond.”

Because all government agencies have privacy regulations to follow, the protocol considers those and allows the information to flow as needed.

In Saskatoon, one teenager (who has many family ties to Prince Albert) was burned after another teen allegedly poured a flammable liquid on her and lit it on fire.

The threat protocol should identify the issue in advance so the teen that poses a danger can get some intervention.

Michaud said that the biggest change is the addition of new partners in the protocol, namely Ecole Valois and the YWCA Settlement Services.

“They have a vested interest in supporting our community members,” Michaud said.

Internally, Sask Rivers has also updated its procedures around securing facilities when a threat exists and how communications will happen to the public.

Instead of a catch-all school lockdown, the division will refer to threats by seriousness, including shelter in place (school population remains in the building but open to the public), a hold and secure would be called when people stay in the building and the doors are locked and no one can enter to the most serious situation of all: an active threat inside the building and students and staff lock classroom doors and hide out of sight.

“We’ve got those three levels, if you want, a response the more clearly defines the type of situation that the school might be dealing with at a given point.”

Active shooters in schools in Canada are extremely rare. In Saskatchewan, an incident in La Loche in 2016 saw two people shot and killed in a home in the community before the shooter went to the school and killed two staff members and wounded seven more people.

Prince Albert Police Chief Patrick Nogier said that the Violent Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) protocol has been used in Saskatchewan for quite some time now.

“What we really like about it is the collaborative approach, where it’s not just one agency that’s responding to a situation. It’s a multidisciplinary approach that involves police, educators, mental health professionals, social workers,” he said.

“It’s a very structured environment where … you’re actually assessing risk within the school system and it’s a very systematic framework.”

Community input and perspective is important, rather than just focusing on the policing perspective.

He said it can’t prevent every incident from happening, but it helps identify situations where violence might be a possible outcome.

“I think that’s really important part is that there are no truly 100 per cent preventative steps that you can take in some certain circumstances. I’m not suggesting the one that Saskatoon was like that, but I think that’s really important that in the absence of having VTRA protocol, your best option is to hope that nothing happens,” Nogier stated.

There is no way to know what events have not happened because the protocol is being used.

With the influx of newcomers from other cultures, VITRA also needs to be able to respond with those differences in mind.

“You have to be aware of those cultural differences. You have to be aware and react to appropriately and accordingly it is not one-size-fits-all, so I think that there is an added level of complexity there by virtue of diversity, but these are not hurdles that cannot be overcome,” he said.

More detailed information on VTRA can be found on their website.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Prince Albert schools renew threat assessment protocol for new year

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