Victoria, BC – VicPD officers, from Constable to A/Chief Constable will don pink ties, shirts and wrist bands today after making the pledge to help stop bullying as part of our support for Pink Shirt Day, 2016.
Each year since 2010, VicPD officers, civilian staff members, and volunteers have signed and taken the anti-bullying pledge as part of their renewed commitment to help end bullying. Officers from across the organization, including our School Liaison Officers, Community Liaison Officers, Patrol, K9, Ident and our Senior Command Team will be wearing pink today to show our dedication to this pledge.
The anti-bullying pledge started in 2010 when Heather Benson, a counsellor at Reynolds Secondary school approached then Patrol Constable Louise Neil with an idea. “She asked if I thought officers would sign this anti-bullying pledge”, Cst. Louise Neil said. “That’s how the whole thing started.”
Since that first year VicPD officers have taken and re-taken the pledge annually, joining the thousands of students and teachers, who alongside officers from neighbouring jurisdictions and partners across our communities, are standing up to stop bullying. Neil and Benson are deeply passionate about these efforts.
“This is one of the reasons I became a police officer,” Cst. Neil said. “Bullying at all levels is something that if we don’t stand up to and show our leadership, it doesn’t set an example for the rest of our community. It’s important that we do that. It’s particularly important that we stand beside the kids in schools to let them know that we are there for them.”
For more information on Pink Shirt day, visit: http://www.pinktshirtday.ca/