The Regina Police Service is trying to improve relationships with youth and officers by handing out “positive tickets”.
"I think one of the demographics police are always looking for more tools to engage with is youth,” Cst. Jonathon Turner said. “We have really good reaction from the youth with our tattoos. Kids are constantly coming up to us asking for tattoos. So this just gives members another tool to allow them to rewards these kids when they see something positive to make that initiative, I think it's going to be great. They're not going to handed out like tattoos. We want the kids to get rewards for some kind of action.”
Officers can rewards kids if they see them doing something positive like riding their bicycle with a helmet, using a cross walk, or holding a door. The initiatives were started by Turner who wanted to improve relationships between youths and officers in Regina.
“It’s definitely not new across Canada, so I did some research, talked to quite a few members from other departments from across Canada,” said Turner. “I learned what worked for them, what didn’t work for them and the built my own based from that.”
On Wednesday, Turner gave out two positive tickets to two young girls who were riding their bicycles with their helmets on.
"I think that my dad and my mom are going be very proud and I’m really happy," said Peyton Lawson.
The tickets can be redeemed for either a pass to a Regina Pat's game, a kids’ meal at Burger King, or entry to a city recreational facility.
"When we started our foundation giving back to the community and enhancing lives of the youth in our community is really important to us,” said Stacey Cattell, Chief of Operating Officer of the Regina Pats. “When we were approached about this it fits really well with what we're trying to do. How do you grow young leaders, how do you reward young kids for doing great things in the community and this was a no brainer for us, so we’re excited."
The Regina Police Service has printed one thousand tickets. The tickets will be available to all officers who want to hand them out and this will be a city wide all year round initiative.
"This is a great way to incentivize youth to make good decisions when it comes to safety,” said Chief Evan Bray, Regina Police Service. “Even good decisions when it comes to how they interact with people using manners."
