NEWS RELEASE
BARRIE POLICE SERVICE
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The new school year is only into its third week and already the Barrie Police Service has attended two calls for service involving secondary schools in the City of Barrie where in each case, a threat has been made against the staff and students.
These calls for service require a significant police response and may require schools to be placed into a lockdown or hold and secure (dependent upon the situation) until staff at the school and police can determine the validity of the threat that has been made.
In both cases, the threats that were made were determined to be unsubstantiated and school activities were able to return a short time later with very little inconvenience to the daily school routine.
When these types of incidents take place, involved students in the schools are often required to adhere to established practices that have been put in place to ensure their safety. In both cases, the staff and students at the involved schools have conducted themselves in a manner that reflects the seriousness of the incident and police commend them for their actions.
Although these types of incidents can be stressful for parents of involved children, the Barrie Police Service is asking that parents refrain from contacting the Barrie Police Communications Centre to determine what is taking place at their child’s school as this can tie up important communications lines that need to remain open for this and any ongoing or future calls for service. A viable alternative would be to follow your child’s school and the respective board on social media platforms where often important details and updates will be posted.
These types of calls for service are not uncommon to law enforcement and they are always followed up with a thorough and detailed investigation that can result in criminal charges being laid.
Acting Chief of Police Rich Johnston states: “An immediate threat to our school communities will always result in a rapid and appropriate police response. If the threat is deemed to be false, the investigation continues and whenever possible, criminal charges are pursued to this senseless type of crime.”
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