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Saint-Jérôme police officers recognized for Sexto project

This annual award celebrates “innovative policing and serves to inform the police and the wider community about creative responses to youth crime,” according to the ministry. It is presented in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) and the Canadian Police Association (CPA).

Boivin and Pouliot have been “active members in their community throughout their careers and have seen firsthand the damage that ‘sexting’ can have on young people,” Justice Canada stated. Many of the youths they worked with were unaware of the dangers in sending a picture or that this form of self/peer exploitation can be a criminal act. Working together, they created a project to address the issue through rehabilitative and restorative justice measures, youth justice conferences and an awareness campaign on the dangers of “sexting”. They also developed an intervention kit for schools, featuring a risk evaluation grid that supports school officials to take measures appropriate to each situation. The project was known as Sexto.

“We know the role that education, prevention and early intervention can have in terms of assisting youth to develop positive choices,” said CACP president Mario Harel. “This innovative effort by Serge Boivin and Robin Pouliot of the Saint-Jérôme Police Service applies the creative use of such techniques towards combatting a rapidly growing criminal offence — online exploitation that can plunge a child’s life into crisis. We applaud these officers who show the positive value police officers can have in the lives of our youth and the wider community.”  

The winners were recognized earlier this month during the opening ceremony of the annual CACP meeting taking place in Montreal, Que.

For more photos from the event, click here.