Metro Vancouver Transit Police has partnered with high school seniors from Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School for the agency’s next anti-sex offense campaign.
The objective is to bring awareness around sexual offending on public transit and to encourage victims and witnesses to report such incidents.
The students reached out to the Transit Police and TransLink in June of last year to discuss past anti-sex offense messaging and to explore the potential of a refreshed campaign. They sought messaging to educate youth on what to do when they witness or experience a sexual offense on public transit. Transit Police and TransLink jumped on the opportunity to collaborate with the student-led initiative for the latest campaign.
Over the past year, the students worked on developing the campaign scope and creating the artwork for the advertisements that depict realistic situations of unwanted touching and the critical role that witnesses play in reporting sexual offenses.
In 2012, Transit Police designated sexual offending on transit as one of the top four priorities. Following this designation, Transit Police have run multiple campaigns to educate the public and put offenders on notice that sexual offending on transit will not be tolerated. One of the critical components of each campaign is highlighting the text reporting service and encouraging witnesses and victims to discreetly text Transit Police in real-time at 87-77-77 when an incident occurs.
