Pubdate: Tue, 07 Nov 2006 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Copyright: 2006 Journal Sentinel Inc. Contact: http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/submit.asp Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) IT'S TIME FOR COPS IN SCHOOLS Pressure is growing to put police officers inside the Milwaukee Public Schools. Fearing she would have fewer officers to deploy to crimes in the community, Milwaukee Police Chief Nannette Hegerty is resisting. All parties are slated to discuss the issue in a meeting with Mayor Tom Barrett on Wednesday. Advertisement Proponents cite a recent spate of violent activity in the schools. A police union official went so far as to describe as "ineffective" the present system of safety aides. Proponents have failed to back up that claim with facts, but, nonetheless, it's time to start stationing cops in schools, perhaps on a trial basis. The officers' presence might improve safety. And, as Superintendent William Andrekopoulos suggests, the police could do more than just respond to crime. They should serve as resource officers, patrolling the buildings, relating to students. Yes, MPS appears to be seeing an uptick in violence. But advocates of assigning officers to schools have failed to show a single case in which police would have responded better than safety aides, who seem to be doing a decent job. Take the admittedly alarming incident Oct. 30 at Madison High School, where a hooded, masked figure - allegedly a 16-year-old student - entered a class and indecently touched a teacher. Safety aides responded immediately and apprehended the alleged assailant in the school's parking lot. It's hard to imagine police improving on that response. Nonetheless, police should set up shop in schools, at least as a pilot program. Their presence might be a better deterrent to crime than that of safety aides. They might improve the feeling of security - - an important outcome. And particularly if they're properly trained, the officers could build beneficial relations with students. Besides, police must respond to incidents anyway. They come out to a typical big school roughly twice a day, according to a Journal Sentinel spot check. Milwaukee Aldermen Bob Donovan, Tony Zielinski and Jim Bohl and leaders of the Milwaukee Police Association are gung-ho about assigning police to schools. They want to put all $1 million the School Board recently allocated for school security toward that end. Andrekopoulos and School Board President Joe Danneker have said they want a large part of the $1 million to go toward police beats in schools. The rest would go to increasing by 10 the current force of 213 safety aides. And that may be the most prudent plan: hiring more safety aides and putting some police officers into school buildings. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman