Virtual town hall reports Somali Liaison Unit police officers taking Somali language classes
In the 14 months since 23 Division’s Somali Liaison Unit (SLU) was first initiated, the six-officer unit has taken giant strides towards achieving its goal of enhancing police relations with Etobicoke’s Somali community.
Gun violence in the Dixon Road community has ceased, officer-initiated programs for Somali youth are on the rise, and enhanced police relations with the community have helped open the lines of communication, Supt. Scott Baptist told the hundreds of Dixon Road residents who participated in the SLU’s second ever virtual town hall Tuesday night.
“The Somali community outreach project strives to achieve meaningful dialogue and build trusting relationships with Toronto’s Somali-Canadian community through the provision of highly visible, proven and community-supportive policing services. And really, in a nutshell, that says it all,” said Baptist, who served as second-in-command at 23 Division until January, when he was promoted to Superintendent at 13 Division.
“One of the most obvious things that has been a benefit – and we don’t want to jinx it – is we have had no incidents of gun violence in the Dixon Road neighbourhood since the beginning of this project....and anyone who is living in those buildings knows that the neighbourhood has been plagued with gun violence for a number of years. Toronto police are trying to do everything we can about that, but for the SLU, it’s not just the enforcement of the law – it’s also building relationships and trying to help people and support the community in a positive way towards more positive outputs. So we’re very, very proud of the fact that there hasn’t been any gun violence in the neighbourhood to date over the past year.”
This week’s hour-long police town hall, conducted in partnership with Prime Contact, saw approximately 10,000 23 Division residents from the Dixon Road community contacted by phone Tuesday night and invited to listen in, discuss, and ask questions about the SLU’s most recent community policing initiatives.
One of the current priorities of the SLU is bridging the language divide between its officers and the community it serves – and in order to so, all six SLU officers recently began taking Somali language classes.
SLU Sgt. Chris Laush greeted those listening in on Tuesday night’s town hall with a traditional “As-Salaam-Alaikum.”
“That was one of the first greetings I learned when I joined the unit, and essentially it’s a greeting that we use quite a bit in breaking the barrier when we talk to the community at Dixon Road. Since then, we’ve gone one step further,” he said, referring to the unit’s weekly Somali lessons at 23 Division.
“Now, we have a whole list of greetings to say, from ‘welcome’ to ‘hello, how are you?’ and ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon,’ and last Thursday we learned the Somali alphabet, which was very interesting to say the least. We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us, but we have a great instructor and we’re looking forward to our classes.”
In terms of outreach to Somali youth, Const. Raman Sandhu said she and her fellow SLU officers have initiated a whole host of activities to engage young people in the communities of Dixon Road, Queen’s Plate Drive and Islington Avenue.
Every day of the week, in fact, there’s a different program bringing Somali youth face-to-face with SLU officers – Monday evening basketball sessions at Dixon Grove JMS; Tuesday night boy’s basketball and girls net ball at Queen’s Plate; Cool Tool School sessions on Wednesdays (at 390 Dixon Rd.) and Thursdays (at Queen’s Plate); mosque visits on Fridays; basketball games with the Somali Youth Association of Toronto (SOYAT) team on Saturdays; and soccer on Sundays at Dixon Grove JMS.
And based on the success and rave reviews from a group of kids the SLU took on a bus trip to a Toronto Argos game late last year, the unit is now also planning on a few upcoming trips to the new Ripley’s Aquarium, a Toronto Raptors basketball game, and a Toronto Rock lacrosse game.
In terms of recruitment, Sandhu said the SLU is also working on getting a youth police academy up and running as a means of encouraging Somali youth to consider a career with the Toronto Police Service.
“My colleague, Const. Ammar Khan, is working now with a few youth that are interested in applying to get on with Toronto police, and he also recently took a youth with him to an RCMP police academy in Regina,” she said, noting that she and her fellow officers were inspired by the RCMP youth program to begin one of their own. “So, right now we’re in the works of starting up a similar academy for the youth at Dixon, Queen’s Plate and Islington, so we can get them more familiar with what we do and interested in applying.”
Added Baptist: “We have worked very diligently to enhance the TPS as a career opportunity within the Somali community. It’s absolutely critical in policing that Toronto police represent the community it serves, and it is so vital that we get Somali representation, and that all of the skills and cultural knowledge from the Somali community be part of our organization.”
For more information about the Somali Liaison Unit, follow any of the following Twitter handles: @D23SomaliUnit @SgtLaush7336 @Scott_Baptist @PCSandhu8745 @PCSwider10185 @PCAKhan10399 @PCKhan10377 @HoraceHarvey2
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