Constable Perry Mason Hamilton Police Service - 2010 Bud Knight Award Recipient

Perry Mason is in his 32nd year of policing with the Hamilton Police Service. His assignments have varied widely during his tenure. For the past seven years, he was worked as a School Resource Officer assigned to the East End Station. Perry has extensive experience with respect to youth related issues but has a special interest in Restorative Justice and Bullying.

Perry has been using Restorative or Healing Circles since being selected as a School Resource Officer in 2004. During this time he has conducted well over 130 formal circles in both school and community settings. Perry is the Hamilton Police Services’ expert on Restorative Justice. He has had significant success with Restorative Justice and has used it in a wide variety of circumstances. In 2005, Perry began to use Restorative Justice circles in bullying cases within school settings. He has found this to be a truly effective tool to combat bullying and there is an extremely low recidivism rate for individuals who participate in one of Perry’s healing circles.

Perry has been delivering his anti-bullying campaign for seven years. He tells the story of his daughter’s tumultuous life of being bullied, drug abuse, homelessness, suicide attempts and becoming pregnant at a very young age. His daughter suffers from mental health issues. Her story is compelling to say the least and he has delivered this message both on and off duty over 400 times.

Perry is currently a trainer for the Hamilton Restorative Justice Project, which is a partnership with the Hamilton Police Service, the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board, the Hamilton Wentworth Catholic District School Board, The John Howard Society of Hamilton Burlington and Area and the City of Hamilton’s Recreation Department.

Perry also has a long history of volunteering. He coached basketball for many years and was a long-time volunteer with physically and mentally challenged adults at Participation House. Perry is a current member of the Hamilton Police Service Choir. He also sits on the Hamilton Coalition for the Prevention of Bullying and an advisory committee to the Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health and CHEO (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario).

Perry’s work has been recognized countless times by the local media, both on television and in print. He has been featured on National Television and spoken at numerous conferences, both Provincial and National.

Perry has positively touched the lives of countless youth over the years. He has gone above and beyond what is called of him as a School Resource Officer and he does it for all the right reasons.

CONGRATULATIONS PERRY!