RCMP SURVEY AREA YOUTH

Corporal Keith Dalton of the Carlyle RCMP detachment is coming to the
closing stages of a surveying campaign that has taken place over the
last six months.

In late April the RCMP released a survey to the schools in the area
in an effort to better know the issues facing the youth in southeast
Saskatchewan.

"Every RCMP detachment in Saskatchewan has several work plans that we
like to do to be in better touch with what is going on in the
community. We have a youth plan so we look at what we are doing for
youth, what the main issues for youth are in the community and how we
can best meet those needs," explained Dalton. "The survey was one way
to find out what was going on in the community by asking the kids themselves."

Although this was the first time Dalton has surveyed the area youth
there was a survey released four years ago also as part of the youth plan.

"The youth plan was done here four years ago and the schools took
part so I wanted to re-do it to see if we met our needs from before,
to see if things had changed and to see what we need to do to meet
our next goals," Dalton admitted that the results from the previous
survey were much the same as the ones returned this recent survey but
suggests that that indicates that those individuals surveyed are
being truthful.

"It was a voluntary survey and I have to take what I see as reliable.
It fits with what we saw in the last survey and it fits with what we
see in the community. If something came back that was real shocking
we might wonder but everything is fitting in place," said Dalton who
constructed the survey to cover a number of varying topics.

"We had a couple of things that we wanted to cover and that were key
to us. One was drugs and alcohol and the other topics were bullying,
vandalism and then the other was concerning contact with the RCMP,"
said Dalton, whose survey was distributed to grade seven to 12
students in Carlyle, Redvers, Arcola, Manor, White Bear and Wawota.

"We asked the kids what the number one problem in their community was
and the majority answered that alcohol and drugs are what they
perceive as the number one problem in their community," revealed
Dalton. "I asked several question about drugs and alcohol, one was if
they thought it was a problem in their community and school. That was
sort of split down the middle. Then I asked if there was peer
pressure to try drugs and that was on the lower end. I would say it
was about 30-35 percent saying there was pressure to try drugs so
that was good to see. By far the number one drug available in
communities in kids opinions is alcohol. 85-95 percent of the kids
said that and the next highest was marijuana and then a spattering of
cocain, crack, meth ecstacy but not very high numbers, which is what
we see in our communities. The top ones are alcohol, marijuana and
then cocain. The majority of what I have seen in the survey suggests
kids are starting to use drugs at 13 and 14 and that they use them
primarily on weekends," said Dalton whose survey revealed that an
astounding 85 percent of the students surveyed had tried alcohol.

"I asked if drinking was a problem in their schools and community and
65 percent said it was not a problem. Then I asked if they had tried
alcohol and 85 percent have. I wanted to get an idea of where we are
in alcohol use, and as I saw before in the other survey it was the
number one thing they had tried," revealed Dalton who is slightly
perplexed by this finding. "I was concerned about the attitude about
alcohol. When you get over 80 percent of high school kids have tried
alcohol it worries me."

The other topics covered in the survey were bullying, vandalism and
the students' perception of RCMP members.

The questions covering vandalism and bullying returned no startling
statistics as roughly half of the people surveyed believed vandalism
to be a problem in their schools and communities and half stating
that they had been the victims of bullying and slightly more than
half stating that they had been the bully themselves.

Another interesting fact of the survey was the consistency of answers
throughout the area. Results from all of the schools were almost identical.

Considerably the most disconcerting aspect of the survey for Corporal
Dalton was the questions regarding a student's persepective of the RCMP.

"The one that concerns me is the fact that there are not a lot of
people out there thinking about a career in the RCMP. That was
surprising because I know growing up for me that is something that
was always there. Being in the schools and the community and letting
people know we are just every day people will help and I want kids
just to think about a career in the force," said Dalton "Well over 90
percent of the kids had some interaction with the RCMP. I left it at
interaction whether it was speaking to one, knowing one, getting a
ticket or seeing them at a dance. From that about 70 percent said it
was a positive interaction, about 20 percent had negative interaction
and about 10 percent said they had both positive and negative interaction."

This is of great concern for Dalton as the RCMP are actively
recruiting at this time.

"The big push on this year in the RCMP is hiring. We are short
members right now. Two thirds of our force could leave any day now.
We had a real glut in the 70's when we hired a lot of people then it
slowed down and there was a very selective criteria then there was a
few years that there was nobody being trained. Now the big push is on
because that bunch from the 70's is old enough to retire. We are
seeing members work 30 to 35 years because we don't have enough
people to replace them," revealed Dalton, who wants young people to
recognize the important and satisfying role police officers play in society.

"I get personal satisfaction from helping people out. There are days
where it is frustrating, but just to help people out. Every stop we
do is different, everything we do is new and exciting. Since I have
been in the force you hear of the odd guy who retires early but for
the most part members serve their 25 years. We see a lot of members
who stay on the force and want to work," he explained. "It was
something I always wanted to do and it started for me wanting to be a
policeman at a young age. I feel that police work in Saskatchewan and
western Canada is still fairly safe."

Satisfied with the results of the survey Dalton believes it will be a
crucial tool in the future operation of the local RCMP members. "From
this survey we learned where our target group is and where to focus
our attention. This also encourages me to get the members out meeting
the kids. That is how I got involved and I know that is a lot of the
members got involved."