Justice and Cst. Turco visit Holy Family School (5 photos)
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 by: SooToday.com Staff
NEWS RELEASE
HURON-SUPERIOR CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
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Four students at Holy Family Catholic School were rewarded for their input into a contest organized by the Sault Ste. Marie Police Services to name their new Canine Unit Officer.
The four Holy Family students (photo middle row) - Nicole Pelletier, Luca Chiarello, Hope Stonge and Ethan Bergamin - were among the 10 students from schools across the city to select the name "Justice" for the dog that would be trained for the unit.
"I knew that police always do justice and if they had a police dog, why not name it Justice," said Hope, a Grade 3 student.
"I thought it would be a good name because that's what the dog's job is and it sounds like a good name," said Ethan, a Grade 4 student.
Justice was introduced to the entire school and the students learned that Cst. Turco and Justice are true partners as they not only work together, but will live together for the years Justice will be working for the police services.
The young German shepherd spent 20 weeks in Gravenhurst with his human partner learning how to find missing persons, track criminals and sniff out drugs or guns.
Students got to see first-hand how Justice sniffs out drugs as in a demonstration he and Cst. Turco found narcotics hidden in the gymnasium.
They also saw how Justice reacts to a bad guy.
They also learned that Justice loves to play with balls and that his reward after performing his job is to play with a ball that Cst. Turco always has with him and of course getting a pat or a hug for a job well done.
As a reward for helping select Justice's name, Hope, Ethan, Nicole and Luca were given special ball caps and t-shirts.
Their respective classes also received a free pizza party.
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B Boy 2/19/2013 6:37:48 PM ReportThat's great but what will it take to get them to show up at my house when I call to report a crime? ;)
MaximusPrime 2/19/2013 6:46:59 PM ReportThis "event" looks like a waste of taxpayers money and student's time all in the the name of our Police Departments' public relations campaign. Great job guys! That's exactly what you should be doing with our money and our students' time.... if there is enough money in the budget for a PR campaign, perhaps it's time to consider a reduced budget.
JellyFisch 2/19/2013 6:50:38 PM ReportDoes everything have to be about taxpayers money? It was a nice little incentive thing to do for the police outreach to the youth community. Children's voices and opinions being heard by an authority figure goes a long way.
I think it's money well spent. Congratulations to the new Cst. Justice and his handler. I wish you well in your career!
MaximusPrime 2/19/2013 6:57:02 PM Report5 police officers plus a dog in attendance. Free shirts with Justice's slogan, and free pizza. All for the purpose of showing off to elementary school children (and of course media photos) is definetely a waste of tax payer money in my book. If only this were the least of my concerns relating to waste/over-inflated police bugets. Unfortunately this is absolutely nothing when considering our huge police budget.
JellyFisch 2/19/2013 7:24:30 PM ReportThat is hardly a waste. I think it is money well spent. Police being out in the public doing community policing is very good for the community and police. A lot of people have no respect for police officers. Especially in those municipalities that have little to zero community policing practices. This helps people and children see the friendly side of those who serve and risk their lives to protect the behaved half of society.
Justify to me what you think is inflated about the police budget, followed by explaining why they don't deserve what they make.
seller65 2/19/2013 7:32:40 PM ReportFor the information of the complainers and disgruntled, my child was in that class today and enjoyed the experience so much she couldn't wait to get home and share her story with her family. A positive police experience, respect for law enforcement and the comments from my child were well worth the cost of a few t-shirts. AND the officers who attended the presentation are your school liaison officers who regularly attend the schools and do amazing work with kids. Perhaps you should get to know some of the programs instead of cruising stories to complaint about?
JellyFisch 2/19/2013 7:38:28 PM ReportI'm gad your child enjoyed it seller65. These programs are very important indeed. Good to see someone not on the bashing bandwagon for taxpayer money being spent.
MaximusPrime 2/19/2013 8:19:37 PM ReportI believe the local police budget is about $40,000,000. That pays for there many SUV's, armoured personnel carrier, mobile planning station, guns, pay..... I think that most kids have respect for the police. It's not until they grow up and realize how corrupt, pushy and unprofessional some of them are that they loose that respect. I always laugh when I hear how "they" are out risking their lives for us. Only one has ever died on the job here and that was in a traffic accident. Far more steelworkers, construction workers and other labourers die on the job. Do we treat them with unquestioned respect? Do we treat them as heroes? Constables pay is about $80,000/yr. Many of the new hires on not graduates of the local law and security course but rather people with a connection within the dept. Many of the new hires simply have a high school diploma. Police budgets are rarely questioned the way other components of municipal budgets.. I suggest a closer look should be taken.
MaximusPrime 2/19/2013 8:27:52 PM ReportI am also glad your child enjoyed his/her day, but that is a weak justification for the program. Once upon a time, the police were in our schools under the Dare Program ie. "just say no". Since that time, study after study has shown the Dare Program was a waste of time or in some instances counter-productive. I do not believe we need to be paying police to "educate" our children. I'd rather pay educators who are properly trained in this role to do that job.
JellyFisch 2/19/2013 8:37:50 PM ReportShow me the annual budget of $40 000 000 or close to. If you can't accurately report the facts than don't report it at all without references and citations, unless your the professional that did produce said facts. That's what we all learn in high school. Doing so makes you incredible.
Police officers (not just in Sault Ste. Marie) are risking their lives every minute of shift they work. Not just lives, but safety. The average salary is roughly about $80 000.Did you know the starting salary of a police officer is about $55 000 give or take? It also takes proficient work for promotion / salary increases.
Sure the requirement for a recruit is minimum of high school. But most of the new hires do not have just high school. They will tell you that in an interview and in recruiting that education, even university education is utmost important, followed by many other things.
Sure there might be an inside connection thing. Did that hit a soft spot at one point? But that's how Sault Ste. Marie mostly is. Heck, at one point I couldn't get a minimum wage job in high school without knowing someone somewhere.
They make good money for a reason. The way we enjoy our society is well kempt. We don't have issues that are had in the middle east or other not-so-lucky countries.
Perhaps that study for the DARE program was biased with someone who didn't like "taxpayer" money to be spent on these types of programs. Do you always believe in everything you hear? But overall community policing programs are very effective.
JellyFisch 2/19/2013 8:42:37 PM ReportOh hey look..
http://www.ssmps.ca/images/pdf/2011annualreport.pdf
My research, page 9. Annual budget $23 353 530.00
Amazing what research does.
JellyFisch 2/19/2013 8:43:10 PM ReportFor 2011 before you jump on that. The budget will not jump to $40 000 000 or close to by 2013.
MaximusPrime 2/19/2013 8:48:44 PM ReportAs so far as I am aware, this is simply a comment board. I am simply stating my opinion. My reference to various stats/figures was a response to your demand that I "justify" what I am saying. You are awfully pushy and demanding. Are you a police services employee or just a wannabe? I have stated my opinion. I am sorry you find it so insulting. But I have heard nothing here that would make me consider changing my mind. Have a nice day!
JellyFisch 2/19/2013 8:52:53 PM ReportNo. Just really tired of people lacking facts to support their statements before hammering the Police or PUC on this site.
MaximusPrime 2/19/2013 9:25:50 PM ReportIn terms of your general opinion that we are getting a good return on investment when it comes to police services and now the P.U.C., I think you are in the minority. If private enterprise ran their organizations in a similar manner they would be bankrupt is short order. I'm not arguing against policing in general, my overall point is that there is a lot of $ which could be saved. Other budgets (health care comes to mind) are occasionally trimmed, however police budget go up without fail. Policing does not seem to require searching for efficiencies in terms of budget the way most other organizations do. Police always seem able to convince councils using scare tactics such as "public safety will be at risk if you do not approve our budget". This happens despite 30+ year trend of declining crime rates.
I'm In 2/19/2013 10:22:54 PM ReportMaximusPrime: You commented and you lost cause this is the way it is, don't pay your taxes because you don't like how your tax $ are spent and see what happens to you - maybe Const. Turco and Justice will come for you. Way to go "Holy Family School" all of you involved deserved the ball caps, T's, and pizza party.
Pete B 2/19/2013 10:28:33 PM ReportMaximusPrime
You obviously do not have any friends or relatives in the police services, otherwise you would think different, you also likely have no idea how many extremely dangerous people live among us that the police services come in contact with everyday! and if it was not for our outstanding police force here in the Soo those dangerous people would be out there hurting people and property more then they do. the decline in crime could very well be a direct effect of the increased budget?? I think there budget should be higher every year and then maybe crime would continue to drop.
MaximusPrime 2/19/2013 11:24:33 PM ReportYour assumptions about my not having friends or family on the force is wrong. As so far as I am aware there is now correlation between the size of police budgets and crime rates. Crime rates generally fluctuate with the economy as a whole. It would seem crime and poverty go hand in hand. If your assumption that bigger police forces = safer society were true, police states would be the safest societies.
As a tax payer I/you have a right to voice concerns as I see fit. I disagree with my/your money being spent on silly pr campAings. Obviously you and many others appreciate the govt collecting money only to spend it on programs whose purpose is to tell you how great they (the govt agency) is. I personally believe our govt and its many branches/departments are excessive.
moem 2/20/2013 8:41:58 AM ReportTo become a police officer in Ontario you must pass a very rigorous testing process, that is done by an independent testing centre. It does not matter who you know on the force, you must pass the verbal, written and psychological tests which are standardized. You do not need any education beyond a highschool diploma, as you will be trained when hired.
I think that visits to schools are a good use of tax money, any money we spend on educating children and preventions programs can't be deemed a waste.
As for the job not being dangerous, it can be especially when responding to domestic calls, which there are lots of here! We haven't had many officers killed in the line of duty here, but statistically we have a small population so you wouldn't expect that many....TO has had very few given their size, but it doesn't change the fact that each day can be a risk.
As far as the K-9 unit responding to your house , I think having them respond to calls of petty theft or vandalism is a bigger waste of money than going to a school.....,
Well done holy family students
Ricatoni 2/20/2013 12:57:54 PM Reportyour tax payers money hard at work ...........looks like they all eat pretty good on their wages........
Note: Comments that appear on the site are not the opinion of SooToday.com. Keep discussions civil and on topic. Refrain from obscenity and don't post anything that your grandmother would be ashamed to read. Those who do not abide by these guidelines will have their membership revoked without notice. If you see an abusive post, please click the link beside the post to report it.
