DRUG-FREE SCHOOL ZONES UNDER CONSIDERATION

TRAIL- Trail's crime prevention officer wants to see "drug-free zones"
around J.L. Crowe Secondary and the city's new middle school next year.

George Braithwaite told The Tab the special zones have been used in
Kamloops for about three years.

"The idea is to mark off two or three blocks around the schools as
drug-free zones," said Braithwaite. "Police action starts when people are
reported to special Student Crime Stoppers for possessing drugs or selling
them in the specially-marked zones around the schools."

One of the key ingredients is total student ownership of the program.
Another is a commitment from local judges and prosecutors to triple court
sentences for dealing drugs. Penalties for possession are doubled. In
severe cases, jail sentences are handed out. More usual sentences are
probation, fines, community work service, or a combination of those.

"You need two or three ingredients to make it happen, but most important of
these is the kids," said Braithwaite. "If the student body of the school
decides they want to buy in, they take over the responsibility for putting
up signs around the school."

The program's developers in Kamloops say it's usually the kids, not adults,
who report drug violations to the Student Crime Stoppers. The beauty of
the program is that students can report dealers anonymously. The developers
claim it changes the social climate in a school when a large number of
students accept and implement the program "because in effect they're
deciding to take back their school from the dealers."

Police started the initiative in Kamloops because drugs were becoming more
and more commonplace at the Okanagan city's 10 secondary schools. The sign
designating the drug free zones portrays a syringe with a line drawn
through it.

Braithwaite said the program "took about a year to set up" in Kamloops and
involved getting the cooperation of city council, the school board, the
students, the judges and the RCMP. Over the next couple of months he will
be talking to each of those stakeholders to see if they are willing to
participate.

"The school baord has to decide if the idea is right for each school, city
council needs to be approached, and parent and teacher groups need to come
on board," said Braithwaite. "It could take in alcohol too," he adds.

The start-up cost might be picked up by service clubs, he suggested,
especially groups like the Kiwanis that have traditionally been very active
in drug awareness programs for Trail.

"Middle school is a good place to begin, because when they reach the ages
of about 12 or 14, kids start experimenting," said Braithwaite, who has
been working in crime prevention in B.C. since 1975 and is currently in his
fourth year as Trail's crime prevention specialist. "If you don't do
something by then, the problems don't get any better."