Statesboro police have been visiting local schools for years, but a new school safety initiative has officers dropping in daily.
The program will help support school safety “by increasing police presence at all elementary schools within the city of Statesboro as well as the Charter Conservatory,” Statesboro Public Safety Director Wendell Turner said. “Statesboro (police) officers are doing a complete patrol walk-through of each school on a daily basis at differing times.”
Students and teachers won’t always know when to expect the officers, but visits will take place once, if not twice, daily.
“The patrol of the school takes 20 to 30 minutes to complete,” Turner said. “When the officer has completed the patrol, it is logged with the department for a record to show that the schools are patrolled daily.”
Statesboro High School already has a Statesboro police school resource officer on duty daily, he said.
The initiative echoes a county-wide effort that has been in discussion since last year, said Bulloch County Schools Superintendent Charles Wilson.
After the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., “Bulloch County Public Safety Director Ted Wynn and I immediately talked,” Wilson said. “We needed to reassess our situation. We agreed to set up a meeting with our public safety, law enforcement officials – that was before Christmas.”
In January, school and law enforcement officials met at the Bulloch County Emergency Operations Center to discuss the situation.
“The (Statesboro) police department said they would like to do random walkthroughs, daily, of the schools. I said absolutely,” Wilson said. “The sheriff’s department is doing something similar, with random visits to schools -- daily hopefully. We are working with Brooklet and Portal as well.”
The initiative does more than simply increased police presence at the schools.
“It also allows the officers to better learn the layout of the schools, which will help them respond more effectively to any emergency situations that take place within one of our schools,” Turner said.
While Turner said the Statesboro Police Department already has a good working relationship with the schools in the city, “the initiative is also designed to create a more open and positive relationship between police department and the school system. The cooperation between the police and the schools will help to develop stronger safety plans and specific recommendations for each school that will work to protect the city’s youngest and most defenseless children.”
The new initiative, in its second week, is based on a program that began by Grand Prairie Police Department in Texas in response to the Newtown tragedy, Turner said.
“The Statesboro Police Department has already received several words of appreciation from teachers, administrators, and parents that have seen the officers patrolling the schools,” Turner said.
Wilson said he is pleased with the new initiative.
“We’re very fortunate to be in a community where that kind of leadership is taken on by public safety officials,” he said. “We appreciate their leadership and partnership in wanting to be in our schools and providing us their presence in our schools.
“They (police and deputies) were always invited and able to come in, but (a daily presence) was not on their radar screen before,” he continued. “Law enforcement and public safety are our partners and are welcome in our schools. We value their presence and cooperation.”
Herald Editor Jason Wermers contributed to this report.
Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.