MHPS Sgt. Adam Gregory of the community support unit. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chris Brown

Encouraging Positive Informed Choices

MHPS updates EPIC program to keep up with youth trends, issues

Nov 25, 2021 | 3:41 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat Police Service hopes to be back in schools for some epic days in the new year.

The Encouraging Positive Informed Choices (EPIC) program sees officers go to schools and provide information to students about issues they might face as they move through teenage years and into adulthood.

MHPS Sgt. Adam Gregory of the community support unit has been involved in EPIC for about 10 years.

“It’s a wonderful program that allows the police service to provide something very needed and will help our youth,” he says.

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EPIC has been on hiatus during the pandemic, but that gave members a chance to update the 11-year-old program.

Officers used to give standardized presentations to Grade 4, 6 and 8 classes on issues like friendship and bullying, digital citizenship and substance use, Gregory explains.

The younger programs won’t change much but Gregory says those who interact with students each day will have a much bigger say in the programming for older students.

“Instead of Grade 8 presentations we’re developing a system where teachers within anywhere from Grade 7 to 12 can request a presentation from our either school resource officer or another officer within Medicine Hat Police Service on a focused topic,” he says. “So rather than delivering the generic topics that we feel best this will allow it to be a tailored experience to topics that may be needed and different in each class.”

In Grade 4 the revamped program starts with meeting a police officer before moving to topics like friendship, bullying and social media etiquette. In Grade 6 they look at digital citizenship and substances like alcohol, vaping, tobacco.

For the Grade 7-12 classes, Gregory says they hope to have a pool of good presentations on trends that are fairly common with junior high and high schools.

“So things such as consent, and digital citizenship is important in every grade as we go so I think that is one that’s requested quite often,” he says. “How to deal with social media, how to request help and how to avoid falling into some pitfalls.”

There are 22 Medicine Hat officers trained in the new program, nine of which have been trained this month.