EDUCATION KEY WHEN IT COMES TO YOUTH

FCSS Workshop Highlights RCMP's Concerns

It's a well known fact that parents can help their children make good
decisions. The issue, though, is that parents need to know how to help
their child make that good decision.

Drugs are an issue when it comes to youth. Peer pressure, as well as the
impact of criminal networks and gangs in the community, have made youth a
target for drug trafficking.

"(The gangs) control the majority of the trafficking activities related to
drugs in the metropolitan Edmonton area," said Beaumont RCMP Cpl. Dave
Wilkinson. "So we realize, in terms of our service delivery, that it's a
bigger issue that occurs outside our jurisdiction."

Wilkinson said substance abuse is "kind of our No. 1 policing goal in
terms of 2009-10."

Although the other issues - traffic (especially on the 50 Street corridor)
and the crime reduction strategy - are important, the other issue is
youth.

"I think that if we were to look at the majority of the criminal
activities that occur in the area, and that would be things like theft
from motor vehicles, break-ins into residences and commercial businesses,
that type of thing, probably a large percentage of that. is dealing with
thefts to support some type of addiction, whether it's alcohol or drug
abuse," said Cpl. Wilkinson.

Beaumont is a young town, with an average age of 31.

Approximately 30 per cent of residents in the town are under the age of
19, and many of those are aged eight to 15 - the age group being targeted
by a workshop currently being put on by Family and Community Support
Services (FCSS).

In collaboration with the RCMP and AADAC, the FCSS workshop focuses on the
power of parents, talking with your kids, helping your kids make good
decisions and what parents need to know about drugs.

The sessions began Oct. 28 and two more will be held Nov. 18 and 25 from 7
to 9 p.m. at the Beaumont Community Church.

"(The program was) developed as an intention prevention," said Jenny Kash,
FCSS community liasion. "It is not intended for parents who are already
dealing with issues with their children involved with drugs; it's
preventative."

The eight to 15 age group isn't generally one that gets into too much
trouble in Beaumont when it comes to drugs and alcohol, but Cpl. Wilkinson
said education at that age is important.

Substance abuse is one of the policing priorities for the Beaumont RCMP
detachment and they approach it in a number of ways.

Those ways include educational involvement with agencies such as AADAC and
FCSS, the youth centre and schools.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program is delivered to
junior high students by the RCMP.

"There's kind of two components to it," said Cpl. Wilkinson. "The first
one is education and the other one is the enforcement end."

The workshop is the first of its kind in Beaumont and is free to attend.

"It's really just enabling (parents) and giving them the tools to give
their kids tools," said Kash. "So when they're in those peer pressure
situations or feeling like they should do something to fit in, the parents
are really able to give them some suggestions on ways to get around that."