Working with kids can refresh anyone’s optimism
As principal of a 400 student K-7 school in New Westminster in the 1970s, one of the most valued members of our “team” was the school liaison police officer from the New Westminster city police.
It was into this environment that the young constable who had been assigned as the school’s liaison officer, complete with full street uniform and pistol on his hip, came, every week, to speak to the kids about traffic safety, personal safety and how to defuse conflict situations without resorting to violence.
All these questions were formed by a relentless series of TV shows developed to maximize the excitement and depicting the danger of a policeman’s life. Sometimes, if I was out on the playground at recess, I’d ask the kids: “Did you see constable XX today”. The response would always be something along the lines of: “Yes, he’s a good guy. I never met a real cop before – he’s not what I thought.”
Like any good teacher, I began by asking these men and women what they needed from me. Their responses were fairly consistent, and were along the lines of: “We get to deal with people for whom its almost too late but who, if we’d had a chance to get to know them as kids and for them to get to know us, trust us – well, things might just have turned out differently for them.”
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