White gives back

CRIME PREVENTION

NATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION WEEK - NOVEMBER 2 - 8, 1986

Page 16

Jim White has been a Native Liaison Officer with the Edmonton City Police for the past 11 years. White believes that working on social issue for his people as a liaison person with the city police is a way of contributing back to society.

"I lived on welfare as a child, and society has always taken care of my needs," said White. "This is my way of giving back."

As a young adult, White was always interested in policing. But after quitting school in Grade 8 he thought that ambition was shattered. Three years without schooling followed - three years of doing nothing - no school, no work, nothing. White spent much of his time on the drag and after realizing what direction his future was headed, decided to do something about it.

After three years of living on the drag day in and day out, drinking and with no immediate plans from day to day, White made up his mind to return to school and further his education and his endeavours.

With an ambition to do better and seek further into life, he intended to finish his schooling and graduate from high school. Through a rough and not so well upbringing, obstacles of many sorts seemed to hamper him from completing his studies. But with his persistence and will he graduated from grade 12.

After graduating from high school, White worked in a juvenile institution where he would be responsible for the care of young offenders. Being a Native person in a home where the juveniles were often Native "helped because I am Native also. I could understand where the boys and girls were coming from. I could understand why their morals and values would be different from a person coming from the city," said White. In the home, with the population often being a Native majority, the white staff had much difficulty coping or trying to handle the kids because they could not understand why or what was bothering them. They could not understand why they behaved the way they did. Coming from a small northern town near Lac La Biche, White was able to relate to many of the young offenders he was in charge of.

From this day on White would work in this type of environment - an environment where he felt his services were being used in a beneficial way, where his time was being utilized properly and his mind was satiated after returning home each evening.

Now in his 11th year with the police department, White can find himself in his line of duty settling family squabbles, identifying dead bodies, finding contacts or witnesses of various crimes, touring children in the police station he works at or lecturing at various locations in the city, including schools, post-secondary institutions, universities or to Scouts and Girl Guide groups and group homes.

A job with a difference, where no two days are the same, is how White describes his job with the police department. The field work makes his job more interesting and this is where he likes to be rather than spending time behind a desk eight hours a day.

Over his years with the police department, as a Native liaison officer, White feels the relationship between the Native community and the Police Department has improved tremendously. The Native agencies are very responsive and very open, says White. The Native community is always welcome to become involved with such programs as the Neighbourhood Watch, Block Parents or to become involved in their own community leagues. The more involvement, the safer it is for our people and especially for our children," says White.

White has another 11 years before he retires from the police department. Today

he is a respected citizen in his department and his community league - a person respected for the job the holds, for the work he does and for caring and respecting his neighbour.

White also sits on the Grant MacEwan Community College advisory board, for curriculum development in the Childcare Worker Program. In the last year he has complted his first year in the social worker program and intends to complete his second and final year in the near future.

White, a father or three, is a prominent figure to those who know him. He's a person who sees his positon and duty in society as a means of contributing to humanity and involves himself with the idea of helping others in need.