Saskatoon police focusing on families to prevent runaways, crime

Saskatoon Police Supt. Brian Shalovelo hopes a new program will stop young people from running away and turning to a life of crime.

The Saskatoon Police Service has received five years of federal funding for Strong Families Saskatoon. The program has been implemented in 36 countriesand focuses on families with young children who might eventually turn to a life of crime.

"It's a 14-week program that will help give families better coping skills," said Shalovelo.

"We identify families and youth who are at-risk of criminality, possibly gang activity, and we try and get in there early, so that we can divert some of these individuals away from the criminal justice system."

The program also hopes to decrease the number of runaway youth in the city. Last year, Saskatoon Police investigated 2,800 reports of missing people, more than double the cases from 10 years ago. Many of those cases involve kids running away from home.

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"Often, we're not sure what children are running toor running from," said Heather Miller, a manager for Child and Family Services with the Ministry of Social Services, and one of the project's supporters. "We're wanting to build relationships with them with a positive influence."

A number of different agencies, from the Saskatoon Health Region to public and private school boards, are coming together for the project.

"Everything from addictions to a healthy, nutritious breakfast things that a lot of people take for granted are unfortunately not available for everyone in our community," said Shalovelo.

"Hopefully, by bringing this program to Saskatoon, we can make a difference."

The project is in the process of setting up right nowand should be running fully by next year.