Partners within the Humboldt area gathered at Horizon School Division's office to sign the VTRA safety protocol. (Facebook/Horizon School Division)

By Aaron Schulze

Safety Protocol

Horizon School Division and partners sign Violent Threat Risk Assessment protocol

Jan 23, 2020 | 5:13 PM

Organizations within the Humboldt community and the Horizon School Division (HSD) signed a protocol they believe will ensure safety for students, staff, families, and other community members.

The Violent Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) was originally developed by Kevin Cameron of the North American Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response and it’s now being adopted by the HSD.

“This isn’t new, but it’s new for us,” HSD Director of Education and CEO Kevin Garinger said. “It says we’re going to be continue behaving the way we have been, but all partners who are at the table also know this is how we’re all going to behave.”

Along with the HSD, the VTRA protocol was signed by multiple ministries (Education, Corrections and Policing, and Social Services), the RCMP ‘F’ Division, Saskatchewan Health Authority, Saskatoon Tribal Council, Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs, PARTNERS Family Services, Humboldt Regional Newcomer Centre, Safe Communities Humboldt and Area, and Humboldt and District Ambulance Services.

The VTRA protocol focuses on partners gathering and sharing data when looking at violence and its potential.

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“What typically happens is you don’t go from zero to 100 immediately; there are stages that people go through,” he said. “If we can deal with [the infancy of someone’s potential for causing harm to others] and get people the help they need and address it in that way, then we’re able to ensure that we don’t ever lead to the high level of violence that person might be heading towards.

“We’re able to deal with it early and get partners involved. We all know this is the direction we need to go and because of that, we’re going to be able to ensure safety.”

Garinger said the HSD experienced previous violent and threat-related incidents in the past and dealt with them in a similar fashion to VTRA. Although the main difference post-signing the protocol is the option to receive and share information with other partners regarding students uttering threats or thinking of acting out in a violent matter.

The HSD can also conduct in-house training of the VTRA process.

“There are things we as a school division can’t do in terms of gathering data, but certainly the RCMP, social services, or mental health can,” Garinger said. “Not only supporting those who have a perversity towards violence, but also those who could be potentially harmed.”

Garinger said students’ private information won’t be shared unless there are “significant issues of safety.”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow