LUCAN – Given residential growth in Lucan and the opening of a new elementary school, OPP Const. Erin Mosher sees increased need for something like the Block Parent Program (BPP).

So it is that the Township of Lucan Biddulph’s Community Policing Committee (CPC) – on which Mosher sits as the community policing officer for Lucan – is seeking individuals interested in bringing the program back.

“We're just in the beginning stages,” Mosher said, adding that the committee is reaching out to local media and school parent councils to help determine if interest exists.

Before the program can be revived, a Block Parent committee must be formed. When the committee is in place, organizers will reach out to the community seeking volunteers willing to become Block Parents.

"Any interested members would then have to complete a criminal record check and anyone over the age of 12 in the home would also have to have a record check done,” Mosher said.

"Once their record checks clear, then they'd be able to pick up a sign from the committee and be able to display that sign and become a Block Parent.”

Mosher noted criminal record checks would take place annually and the Block Parent committee would ensure the checks are completed, with the assistance of the OPP.

Those who act as Block Parents may be asked to help when a child, senior or any other person gets caught in a dangerous or threatening situation, according the Ontario Block Parent Program’s website.

Threatening situations include being bullied, lost, hurt or ill, caught in severe weather, frightened by a stranger, being followed by a car or locked out of the house or car, the website states.

The Block Parent is asked to help by making a phone call to police, fire, ambulance services, a parent, or another appropriate party.

According to the website a Block Parent is not asked to provide food, drink, toilet facilities, administer first aid, provide transportation, or get involved in a fight or bullying situation.

They are also not required to open their door to anyone if they feel uneasy about the situation.

Block Parents are asked to display a Block Parent sign whenever they’re home and available, identifying their home as a safe haven.

“(Signs are displayed) not necessarily every time you’re home, but when you’re available,” Mosher said. “If you have people over and you don’t want to display your sign, then you certainly don’t have to.

“But whenever you’re home and available you display your sign. Whether it’s for a couple of hours or all day, it’s completely up to you.”

Mosher said statistics have proven a Block Parent program can bring down the crime rate in a community.

“It acts as a deterrent for crimes in the area,” she said. “Crimes in the area seem to go down slightly when people are aware that people are watching – (the) community’s watching.”

Mosher said the goal is to have one Block Parent available on every block, ensuring that kids walking home from school would have a Block Parent available to them all the way home.

Organizers hope to have the program in place in time for September, when the next school year begins.

Those interested in the program are invited to e-mail Mosher at erin.mosher@ontario.ca
More information about the Ontario Block Parent Program can be found at www.blockparent.on.ca