It’s about to get tougher for bullies of all ages to get away with physical and emotional abuse.

The Community Oriented Policing (COP) Committee in partnership with the Wellington County OPP and the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) will launch their Anti Bullying Campaign (ABC) later this month. The focus will be to bring the message that bullying in all forms is wrong.

In a survey of high-school aged children, the NCPS found that 65 per cent of boys and 75 per cent of girls had been verbally or socially aggressive to others.

Locally, the OPP have received 68 reports of bullying of which 46 were assaults, 16 were threats and 6 were cases of harassment. Bullying may include hitting, insults, sexual harrassment, threats, gossip and, more recently, cyber-bullying.

This trend is on the rise according to OPP Constable Keith Robb, chairman of the Anti Bullying Campaign. 

“Kids are more advanced in computer use than parents,” said Robb. “They have ‘carte blanche’ to do what they want on computers.”

However, bullying is not limited to a school environment. Several cases of gang attacks on local streets and unacceptable behavior at local arenas have been reported.

The Anti Bullying Campaign will be officially launched on Tuesday, October 26th at 6:30 p.m. at the Fergus Community Centre. Guest speakers will include Dawna Speers whose daughter Monica was killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1991. Her mission is to make parents and adults aware of the signs of bullying.

The evening will also feature several local community groups including Crime Stoppers, Community Mental Health, the Wellington County OPP, Community Oriented Policing and others who can provide information to educators, group leaders, coaches and parents about bullying.

ABC administrator Kathy Onifrichuk says the campaign will bring the message to schools, workplace and community organizations. Resources have been made available to members of the public at the Fergus OPP detachment.

“We want a consistent message delivered to the schools, and all officers to deal with bullying in the same manner,” said Onifruchuk.

COP and the Wellington OPP are also in the process of getting a bylaw passed that would disallow verbal harrassment by all ages. Bullying is a learned habit as children look to their parents for examples of how to treat people. Robb said many adults don’t realize that they can be bullies too and children are watching.

“Bullying starts in kindergarten, and they have learned it before they get to school,” says Onifrichuk.

There are several different ways in which young people bully others. Boys tend to use physical violence while girls tend to gossip or exclude. Studies also show that bullies tend to be hyperactive, disruptive, impulsive and overactive.

Robb notes that there are few people who children can look to for support and this must be put into place. 

“There are a lack of role models in society for kids to follow. They need that influence. They need to learn about respect,” he says.

He adds that parents, teachers and members of the community must respect each other and demonstrate the correct way to handle bullies.

In 85 per cent of cases, there are onlookers who stand by and do nothing or only serve to reinforce the bullying.

He adds that young people should be encouraged to find the appropriate help and understand that helping is not tattling.

“There is a great deal of power bystanders have in order to stop behaviour or encourage it,” said Robb.

The campaign is designed to teach adults and children that the power to stop bullying lies in their hands.

The event is co-sponsored by the co-operators, Made You Look Designs, Thistle IODE, Vic Kelly and Associates and the Fergus Legion Ladies Auxiliary. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.