COCAINE SOLD IN SCHOOL?

Gerbasi Claims Students Can Buy Drugs In Washrooms At Kelvin

COCAINE is being sold in the washrooms at Kelvin High School, Fort
Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi claimed during a city hall debate about
placing more police officers in Winnipeg schools.

On Monday, city council's protection committee approved a plan to
double the number of police officers in Winnipeg School Division
institutions from three to six, with two of the new officers going to
inner-city schools and one working in schools south of the Assiniboine River.

The plan will only go ahead if Mayor Sam Katz's cabinet, Winnipeg
School Division and the province each agree to pay for one-third of
the $258,000 annual cost of the program. Pending approval, the three
new officers would begin working in schools in September, doing
mostly crime-prevention work.

The officers are not expected to patrol the halls, but parents'
groups, community activists and some city councillors say a police
presence is needed to combat problems with drugs, gangs, violence and bullying.

"You can walk into the washroom (at Kelvin High School) and buy
cocaine or have it pushed on you," alleged Gerbasi, whose two teenage
children attend the Crescentwood-area school.

"This is not unique to Kelvin. There's bad stuff going on in every
part of the city. This is just one parent's experience."

Winnipeg School Division supports the idea of more officers in its
schools, but does not view them as a means of cracking down on drug
trafficking or any other specific crime, said Bob Wilkes, the
superintendent in charge of the division's southern district.

The washrooms and hallways at Kelvin are thoroughly supervised, he
said, but added it's possible drug deals could take place inside a school.

"Could it happen? It could happen in a back lane or anywhere," Wilkes
said. "I would just hope Jenny Gerbasi would share this information
with the school.

"If she has information about someone being approached, we want that
information. It's a problem that's pervasive in society and it's not
a simple problem to deal with."

Wilkes said Winnipeg School Division's board is studying the idea of
providing funding for three more police officers to work in
inner-city and southern schools, in addition to the three officers
who work in North End schools.

If the school division is on-board, Mayor Sam Katz said he will
support the plan, which would only cost the city about $35,000 this
calendar year.

"It's unfortunate we have to go this route, with officers in more and
more schools, but it seems to be reality and we have to deal with it
head on," the mayor said.

Winnipeg police Chief Jack Ewatski said he used to doubt the need for
police in schools, but has been won over by the experience of
officers in North End institutions.

But he said diverting more police to schools will mean service
reductions elsewhere in the Winnipeg Police Service.

"The concept of the school resource officer has certainly proven
itself. We think there's value to it, but there's value to virtually
everything our officers do," he said.

But the Winnipeg Police Service should be able to place a handful of
officers in schools, considering the city enjoys the second-highest
police-to-population ratio in the nation, argued Tom Simms, executive
director of the Community Education and Development Association.

Simms said the police should simply fund the school program itself
without help from the province or school division, claiming services
in other Western Canadian cities view similar programs as core services.