THUNDER BAY – Eric Gray remembers feeling uncertain about police when he arrived in the city from Sandy Lake First Nation to attend Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School.
“Coming into Thunder Bay, I was nervous about the police because I have heard all these stories about what they’ve done to First Nations people,” he said.
Having a dedicated school resource officer “makes me feel better about that,” he said after it was announced that the Thunder Bay Police Service has launched a partnership with the school’s operator.
DFC, as it’s called, is run by the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council for teens like Gray who come from First Nations where high schools aren’t available.
Thursday at the council’s offices on Hewitson Street, the joint Student Safety Initiative was announced and the school’s dedicated city police officer was introduced to news media.
Police Chief Darcy Fleury said having an officer at the school will strengthen relationships, enhance student safety and assist students adjusting to living in an urban environment.
Const. Patrick Shoppoff was selected from within the police service and has been working in the school role since August, when DFC’s school year began.
He was previously a school resource officer for Thunder Bay’s north-side schools.
Shoppoff told Newswatch the skill set of a good school resource officer includes “being able to connect with the kids and having the ability and desire to go out and be more involved with them.”
He said he’s been working on “just getting to know” DFC students “and have them feel more comfortable around me or any other police officer, as I’m kind of representing the service in that sense.”
Jada Kitchkeesick, a Fort William First Nation member attending DFC, said having an officer at the school “breaks down the stereotypes and the barrier between First Nations students and police officers.”
She and fellow students can feel comfortable knowing Shoppoff is “here to help,” Kitchkeesick said.
“So when they need help or when they’re in need of police officers, they won’t be as scared of them because they’ve interacted with a constable.”
Joey Anderson, from Kasabonika Lake, said he agrees with his schoolmates that an on-site police officer is needed, and said he’s thinking of becoming an officer in his home community.
The DFC program is the second of its kind for the Thunder Bay Police Service, which has had a school resource officer at the Matawa Education and Care Centre since March 2023.
