Features Editor’s Commentary Opinion
Bringing back face-to-face connections

This spring, Blue Line returned to in-person events. From hosting our own events, like the Security • Police • Fire Career Expo, to attending events like the Law of Policing Conference – Eastern Edition and Rampart Range Day, we’ve been excited to reconnect with people face-to-face. Blue Line will also be attending the 117th CACP Annual Conference in Quebec City.

The Blue Line Expo has been an annual event hosted by Blue Line magazine for the last 25 years. This year, Blue Line and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) are partnering on a joint venture, the OACP & Blue Line Expo. This year’s event will be held on Friday, Oct. 21 at the Paramount EventSpace in Vaughan, Ont.

The OACP & Blue Line Expo will feature sessions curated for all ranks and a trade show floor featuring a wide range of exhibitors showcasing the newest products, technologies, services, and solutions for procurement professionals, senior police leaders, and other members of the law enforcement community. In addition, attendees will benefit from the unique networking opportunity this new partnership brings.

Blue Line and the OACP share a common mandate of providing police personnel with timely information on issues that affect public safety and community wellness. Through each issue of our magazine and the OACP’s own public education campaigns and events, relevant crime prevention and officer education information is shared with members of Ontario’s policing community.

The Blue Line team is thrilled to be partnering with the OACP for our 2022 event, and we’re excited to be partnering on our efforts to bring timely, educational conference sessions to members of law enforcement. You can check out more information about the event at bluelineexpo.com.

Law enforcement may not have had the same kind of quarantine or work-from-home requirements that many other industries faced during the height of the pandemic. This doesn’t mean everything was “normal” or that the value of meeting face-to-face at conferences and trade shows wasn’t sorely missed by many. The value of reaching out to one another in person is something law enforcement knows all too well — being a part of the community is a big part of the job and a key element in preventing crime. While some of their programming might have had to adapt to the “new normal”, they pushed through for the good of their communities.

In this edition of Blue Line, we’re highlighting one department whose in-person approach to deterring crime is helping keep the youth in their community on a positive path. When looking at how crime rates can be lowered in a community, police agencies look at the community’s youth and make efforts to connect with them. To provide opportunities for the children and teens in the city, the Delta Police Department (DPD) in British Columbia runs a Student Police Academy and a high school Wrestling Program. These programs were on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now have returned and are once again offering students the chance to learn from mentors in their city. The DPD also actively looks for ways for youth to assist in improving the programs by asking to hear about their perspectives and experiences. You can learn about the programs, the challenges the DPD has faced, and the department’s goals for these programs on page 10.

As always, if there is something you’ve encountered over the past few years that you think fellow officers could benefit and learn from, please reach out to me at any time (bschroeder@annexbusinessmedia.com).

Until next time, happy reading and be well.