An officer will prepare staff to take a larger role in handling problems on campus
By Steve Fetbrandt, The Press-Enterprise (California)
BEAUMONT - School officials and police have teamed up to enhance security and simultaneously reduce the number of calls for police service to Beaumont Unified School District campuses.
The agreement calls for the Beaumont Police Department to lend police Lt. John Acosta to the school district for half of his 40-hour work week. He will train campus personnel to take on many of the tasks school officials typically have deferred to police.
Schools Superintendent Frank Passarella, who came up with the plan with Police Chief Pat Smith, said that although school officials attempt to limit requests for law-enforcement assistance, they periodically rely on local police and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to handle incidents that could be taken care of by properly trained campus security officers or school counselors.
The district has 6.5 security officers at the high school, two middle schools and alternative-education campuses.
The Beaumont Police Department, meanwhile, has 33 sworn positions to serve nearly 20,000 residents, but is down to 28 officers working right now, Acosta said. While the department is recruiting and expects to fill the jobs, it takes up to eight months to train officers. School officials and Acosta hope to have campus security trained by June.
Acosta said he is unaware of any similar program at other Inland school districts, so school officials hope it becomes a model.
Passarella cited last week’s closure of Carter High School in Rialto as an example of the need for proactive measures to ensure campuses are safe.
“Carter ended up closing to get things under control,” Passarella said. “San Jacinto High School just had something a few weeks ago, too.”
The incident at Carter involved a lunchtime melee between Hispanic and black students that left 57 students with minor injuries, including 16 who suffered from the effects of pepper spray used to break up the altercation.
On Dec. 10, a fight between two Hispanic boys led to another brawl between a group of 10 to 15 Hispanic students and a group of 10 to 15 black students, Principal Ray Johnson said earlier.
“I don’t think those schools are doing anything they shouldn’t be doing,” Passarella said. “We just want to be real proactive and train our people.”
Passarella noted he does not want Beaumont police officers to be “buddies” with students.
“When a police officer shows up, the message should be that they’re there for a strong reason - usually to take somebody off our campuses,” he said. “At the same time, our security people should be able to maintain good control and be proactive.”
Passarella said he also is interested in possibly having campus security officers issue minor citations to offenders. That, however, would not happen without approval of the Police Department and school board, he said.
“Right now we’re trying to develop all of the components of what we’re going to do,” he said. “The initial thing is staff development.”
Acosta said security officers at Redlands East Valley High School are trained to issue citations. A citation for student fighting, for example, can cost parents as much as $700. Students who cannot afford to pay end up doing community service.
Passarella said the use of the consultant will not duplicate the typical school resource-officer programs found in many communities and public schools in California. Instead, Beaumont’s emphasis will be on providing specific training and technical advice to school employees, which will allow them to perform their duties more effectively.
In addition, the law-enforcement consultant will work with school officials to better plan and coordinate school events, improve communications and take care of traffic issues.