In the 14 months since 23 Division’s Somali Liaison Unit (SLU) was first initiated, the six-officer unit has taken giant strides towards achieving its goal of enhancing police relations with Etobicoke’s Somali community.
“The Somali community outreach project strives to achieve meaningful dialogue and build trusting relationships with Toronto’s Somali-Canadian community through the provision of highly visible, proven and community-supportive policing services. And really, in a nutshell, that says it all,” said Baptist, who served as second-in-command at 23 Division until January, when he was promoted to Superintendent at 13 Division.
One of the current priorities of the SLU is bridging the language divide between its officers and the community it serves – and in order to so, all six SLU officers recently began taking Somali language classes.
SLU Sgt. Chris Laush greeted those listening in on Tuesday night’s town hall with a traditional “As-Salaam-Alaikum.”
“That was one of the first greetings I learned when I joined the unit, and essentially it’s a greeting that we use quite a bit in breaking the barrier when we talk to the community at Dixon Road. Since then, we’ve gone one step further,” he said, referring to the unit’s weekly Somali lessons at 23 Division.
“Now, we have a whole list of greetings to say, from ‘welcome’ to ‘hello, how are you?’ and ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon,’ and last Thursday we learned the Somali alphabet, which was very interesting to say the least. We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us, but we have a great instructor and we’re looking forward to our classes.”
In terms of outreach to Somali youth, Const. Raman Sandhu said she and her fellow SLU officers have initiated a whole host of activities to engage young people in the communities of Dixon Road, Queen’s Plate Drive and Islington Avenue.
Every day of the week, in fact, there’s a different program bringing Somali youth face-to-face with SLU officers – Monday evening basketball sessions at Dixon Grove JMS; Tuesday night boy’s basketball and girls net ball at Queen’s Plate; Cool Tool School sessions on Wednesdays (at 390 Dixon Rd.) and Thursdays (at Queen’s Plate); mosque visits on Fridays; basketball games with the Somali Youth Association of Toronto (SOYAT) team on Saturdays; and soccer on Sundays at Dixon Grove JMS.
And based on the success and rave reviews from a group of kids the SLU took on a bus trip to a Toronto Argos game late last year, the unit is now also planning on a few upcoming trips to the new Ripley’s Aquarium, a Toronto Raptors basketball game, and a Toronto Rock lacrosse game.
In terms of recruitment, Sandhu said the SLU is also working on getting a youth police academy up and running as a means of encouraging Somali youth to consider a career with the Toronto Police Service.
WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME,POLICE OFFICERS DON'T GET PAID TO BE CULTURAL AMBASSADORS FOR MUSLIMS WHO REFUSE TO ASSIMILATE.
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