School Safety Patrols

Guelph became the second city in Canada to implement a Safety Patrol Program and was initially sponsored by The Canadian Automobile Association.

The task of the School Safety Patrol is to serve as a reminder to all students of how to safely cross the street and to prevent them from crossing when it is not safe to do so. Patrols do not stop, direct, or otherwise interact with vehicular traffic.

In its 70-year history of the Guelph Safety Patrol Program, not one school aged child has ever been involved in an accident due to the negligence of a school safety patroller ... a remarkable record of achievement and an outstanding example of citizen/government co-operation.

More than 1,100 students in grades 4 to grade 8 serve on approximately 200 active patrols throughout all areas of the city of Guelph. These patrols assist nearly 19,000 school children in crossing Guelph streets and getting safely on and off Guelph school buses each day. There are approximately 130 school crossings at intersections and crossing points and over 80 school buses where bus patrols are active in their daily duties.

The Program is a benchmark for community cooperation including:

• Teach/supervisors at all Guelph's elementary schools in both the Upper Grand District School Board and Wellington Catholic District School Board
• Guelph Police Service
• City of Guelph which funds the program
• Local newspapers and radio stations
• Guelph Storm Hockey Club
• As well as the students, parents of patrollers and the continuing co-operation of the motoring public.

Patrol posts are designated through the co-operation of:
• School officials
• School Safety officers of the Guelph Police Service
• City of Guelph Engineering
• Traffic Services personnel

Teacher/supervisors at each school recruit and organize their own patrol teams, assign posts and scheduling, disperse supplied equipment and inspect their own patrols on a continual basis. They accompany patrollers to meetings and several act as chaperones at patrol events, such as the trip to the National Patrol Jamboree in Ottawa. The supervisors select patrollers to attend the Jamboree, as well as some, through their excellence and dedication to their duties, are selected to receive Most Valuable Patrol awards.

The Guelph School Safety Patrol Program has an outstanding record of child safety and the Guelph Police Service is proud of our role in the School Safety Patrol Program and we will continue to support and assist it in whatever way we can.