Schools To Hold Weekly Safety Stragety Meetings With Police
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he's bringing Chicago's new policing strategy to the Public School system, in a new effort to keep high school students safer.
WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports that the Police Department's CompStat program analyzes crime statistics and other trends to plan a comprehensive safety strategy.
Speaking at John Marshall Metropolitan High School, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said a similar strategy will be used on school safety efforts.
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"CompStat is going to be used now to A, evaluate those plans and B, ensure that there's integration of the school's plans and the police department's plans as one plan to ensure the safety of the kids," McCarthy said.
Marshall principal Kenyatta Stansberry said such efforts can have a dramatic impact.
"We have seen a huge decrease in the number of misconducts and a 20 percent increase in attendance, due to students feeling safe," she said.
Similarly to the way police commanders get together each week, Emanuel said police officials will hold weekly meetings with school officials to take a closer look at crime in and around the high schools.
The mayor said the meetings will focus on data, like attendance, incidents among students and neighborhood crime.
"I think that before, here, there used to be – if I'm not mistaken – over the years, three or four years, six shootings in and around the school," Emanuel said. "You can spot a trend early. What's the strategy to deal with that trend? I don't want to just collect the data. I don't need it to get dust on the shelf. What are you going to do with that data?"
The mayor said the aim of the new school security initiative is to make high school students feel safer in and around their schools.
"The goal is, are we creating a mindset for our children? The principal who we met earlier mentioned that when they had a better security, attendance was up. That's the goal, not the program and dollars, it's the mindset," Emanuel said.
Officials said they have not yet worked out how many or which schools will take part in the first meeting on Dec. 13.
