By meadowlakeNOW

Positive ticketing campaign encourages M.L. youth

Sep 20, 2017 | 1:59 PM

About 200 youth in the community received tickets from the authorities this summer – for their positive behaviour in the community.

The Positive Ticketing campaign is a joint endeavour led by the Prairie North Health Region, along with the Meadow Lake RCMP, City of Meadow Lake Community Safety Officer (CSO), Meadow Lake EMS, the Meadow Lake Fire Department, and several community sponsors.

Anne Duriez, coordinator of population health promotion with the Prairie North Regional Health Authority said the campaign ran from June to mid-September.

She said she was elated to see the participation and cooperation from both the various authorities and the youth they connected with.

“We really want to use the opportunity to create positive relationships with people who are in authority,” she said. “Sometimes youth don’t have a history or experience [with them] so they don’t always feel comfortable reaching out.”

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The positive ticketing campaign idea came from a retired RCMP officer from British Columbia and has been running in Meadow Lake for the last four years.

She said most of the tickets given out this summer were to youth who wore helmets biking, but a number of others were given out, including one to a young lady mowing her family’s lawn. Duriez also said a couple of the partners came back to get more tickets.

“What that tells me is they really see this as a way to make a positive difference,” Duriez said. “It costs almost nothing to run this campaign, but I see this as part of what it takes to create the kind of community we want to live in.”

The tickets were cashed in for a free ice cream cone from A&W, but every youth who received a ticket was entered into a draw for a pizza party for their entire class at school as well, an idea from CSO Joe Hallahan. Positively Parenting, Boston Pizza, and Jubilee school are each sponsoring the cost of pizzas.

“We thought that if a kid got a ticket for wearing their helmet, and then their entire class got a chance to see that recognition, they might feel more positive also wearing their helmets,” Duriez said.

Const. Andrew Giassa of the Meadow Lake RCMP works as a school liaison, and said he finds the campaign a great way to connect with people in the community.

“If you get to know them you create a presence where they know that police aren’t these scary people,” he said. “If you build that relationship, they can come up to chat with you, they get to see you talk to them a bit further about what we do.”

Beyond bike helmets, Giassa said tickets were issued for helping parents with groceries. One youth in particular provided information for an active investigation. 

“Just the fact they’re receiving [the ticket] really goes a long way,” Giassa said. “Overall officers typically enjoy doing these kind of things. We’re very busy, but to get a chance to speak with youth in the community it’s always quite enjoyable. It makes our jobs easier too when we build those relations.”

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath