Mountain View County is joining the new Central Alberta community violent threat risk assessment (VTRA) protocol, with Coun. Greg Harris representing the municipality on the multi-stakeholder project designed to keep students safe.
The move came by way of motion at council's recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
The county's policies and priorities committee has earlier recommended that the municipality become active in the project, which will involve numerous groups, such as school divisions and other municipalities in the region.
The protocol will support "collaborative planning among community partners to reduce violence and reflects safe, caring and restorative approaches," administration said in a briefing note to council.
"It fosters timely sharing of information about students who pose a risk of violence towards themselves or others. This protocol promotes the development of supportive and preventive plans."
The protocol will also promote the development of supportive and preventive plans to protect school students from violence and other threats.
The VTRA mission statement reads: "All partner organizations will take a zero tolerance stand for not responding to any form of violence or threat of violence that impacts the quality of life of children and youth."
Lead community partners in the VTRA are the Chinook's Edge, Red Deer Public and Red Deer Catholic school divisions.
Other community partners include Alberta Children's Services, area RCMP detachments, Olds College, Alberta Health Services and municipalities such as Mountain View County.
The VTRA is based on the Canadian Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma of Violence Threat-Risk Assessment and includes a three-step process: data collection and intermediate risk reducing interventions; comprehensive multidisciplinary risk evaluation; and multidisciplinary interventions.
"I think it's an excellent protocol and program," said Coun. Harris, a former police officer.
"It is well balanced between the need to do something and treating the situation with the proper amount of reserve and fact-based decision making.
"This one is well thought out. It's done with a good deal of balance, and information sharing is critical with these kinds of incidents."
Rationale for the new VTRA protocol will include the following:
• School authorities will respond to student behaviours that may pose a potential risk for violence to students, staff and members of the community. The goal in supporting intervention measures by each school board and community partners is to strive to prevent and reduce school violence and to promote the safety of all members of our community.
• This protocol supports collaborative planning among community partners to reduce violence and reflects safe, caring and restorative approaches. It fosters timely sharing of information about students who pose a risk for violence towards themselves or others. This protocol promotes the development of supportive and preventive plans.
Phase 1 of the process will be to build a protocol that would benefit Central Alberta, which includes the Mountain View County area, members heard.
Phase II of the project was to refine and complete the protocol and schedule a dignitary signing in the spring of 2018.
"We are going to support it," said county CAO Jeff Holmes, "and Councillor Harris will be our representative."
