The OPP is launching a new program with Aviva Canada Inc. that will assist officers to comfort distressed children they encounter in OPP policed communities.
Thanks to the sponsorship of Aviva, the Community Bear program will equip OPP cruisers with plush black-and-white Teddy bears officers will give children who experience trauma in incidents.
Traumatic situations such as car crashes, personal injury, domestic violence, and abuse CAN have a profound effect on children, and the new Community Bear can help ease the pain and trauma they experience in those situations.
Inspector Scott Smith, Detachment Commander for Wellington County, said, “The safety and well-being of children in our communities are paramount to the OPP, and being able to hand a distressed child a Community Bear at a time when they need it can be highly effective in helping them cope with a traumatic ordeal.”
Aviva has provided an additional 100 Community Bears which they are selling to their employees and from which the proceeds are being donated to the OPP Youth Foundation.
