This year, the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board changed policy around School Resource Officers accessing schools in our community. Previously, Police Officers were allowed into schools without invitation whereas now they require the principal to invite them for a specific purpose. We, as students, feel as though we are losing the opportunity to experience many benefits these officers provide in the school environment:  

• Students feel safer when our police officers are in and around our buildings. 
• Officers build positive relationships with students when they are around our school community. 
• They will not only be dealing with students in "negative" or punitive situations, they can help provide guidance for students in making proper decisions. 
• They become another person we can build trust with and who we can connect with if we have a problem or feel unsafe because of their familarity to us.
• Police officers are more humanized because we can get to know them as people, which calms us and allows us to get to know them a little more.

Why leave students with only a negative impression of police officers, when they can have the ability to change the narrative by creating bonds and relationships with the people they are here to protect and serve?