Laid-Off City Police Could Aid Schools
By Chastity Pratt, Detroit Free Press
Mar. 3–Detroit Public Schools officials announced a plan Thursday to spend $600,000 to hire up to 48 laid-off Detroit police officers to help patrol the city’s schools.
The announcement was a collaboration between the district and the Detroit Police Officers Association in response to a recent rash of school violence. Since the fall, there have been 31 armed robberies on school campuses.
Superintendent William F. Coleman III said the officers would focus on early mornings and school dismissal times, when most of the crimes have occurred. The part-time officers would not get benefits and would work through June.
The short-term solution, Coleman said, needs more fine-tuning and also will need approval from the school board. Board President Jimmy Womack said the board is likely to meet next week to address the plan. If it is approved, Coleman said, officers start in 10 days.
The money would come from the Office of Public Safety budget and general fund dollars, Coleman said.
Vivian Dockery, 51, a 29-year teaching veteran, said the new plan is a start, but it’s a “day late and a dollar short.”
She was robbed at gunpoint in June at Von Steuben Elementary. “This plan is like putting a Band-Aid on open-heart surgery. But they have to start somewhere, I suppose,” she said.
The school system also is dealing with another long-term issue: The power to run its own armed force expires at the end of 2007, Dave King, spokesman for the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, said Thursday.
The Detroit Police Department would have to agree to allow the district’s police force to continue past that point. And there have been no official talks between the district and Police Department on that issue, said police spokesman James Tate.
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has suggested using off-duty cops to beef up patrols; Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans has proposed taking over the security budget and management for the schools. The board has not set a time line for responding to those ideas.
The Council of Baptist Pastors and Vicinity pledged last month to help recruit 2,000 people to help patrol the city’s schools. So far, fewer than 100 volunteers have responded.
At Wednesday night’s training session, 17 men and seven women showed up.
“We want the community to know we do have people who care,” said Aundrey Moss, who volunteered to help patrol at Osborn High.
Staff writer Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki contributed to this report.
Plan highlights
Detroit Public Schools officials’ plan to beef up security at the district’s schools:
Allow the district to hire 25 to 48 laid-off Detroit cops to work part time and without benefits patrolling schools.
Set aside $600,000 to pay the cops.
Train and deploy the officers within 10 days after school board approval.
WHAT’S NEXT
The board is expected to call a special meeting next week to decide whether to approve the security proposal.
—–
Copyright (c) 2006, Detroit Free Press
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.