By Brian Westley, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -- The high school where a student was fatally shot earlier this month could face sweeping security changes under a proposal by the Metropolitan Police Department that calls for more metal detectors, police officers and security cameras.
The plan for Ballou High School was still in draft form Wednesday, with no firm timetable on how soon it would be implemented or at what cost, District of Columbia Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said.
But the preliminary proposal called for a number of changes, including assigning as many as five uniformed police officers to Ballou along with a sergeant who would supervise them. The number of officers provided by a private security firm would jump from 12 to 24.
The plan also proposed limiting access in and out of the school to the main entrance, with two security officers and three police officers stationed in the main lobby all day. All other doors would be locked. Everyone would be required to pass through one of three metal detectors.
“We’re trying to turn the school into an environment where students can learn,” Ramsey said, adding that elements from the Ballou plan would also be used at other troubled city schools.
The plan was presented to Mayor Anthony A. Williams in response to the Feb. 2 fatal shooting of junior James Richardson, 17, in a Ballou hallway, allegedly by another student. It happened about three months after another student was killed in an October shooting outside Anacostia High School just as class was letting out.
Officials hoped to assess all the city’s high schools in the next 30 days.
“The plan starts with Ballou but doesn’t stop after Ballou,” Williams said Wednesday. The mayor said he was impressed with the detailed proposal, but stressed that it would remain a work in progress as he sought input from the community.
Williams also acknowledged that while some details of the plan were controversial, he would do “whatever it takes” to put a stop to the violence -- including giving police the authority to search students’ lockers if that were necessary.
“A free environment is a freedom from fear,” the mayor said, in response to critics who have expressed concern about how their children might be treated by police.
Also under the plan, the positions of security cameras inside Ballou and other schools would be examined, Ramsey said, noting that this month’s fatal shooting happened in an area outside the cafeteria where a camera wasn’t in place.
Armed officers also would be assigned to the school’s parking lots and police would conduct foot and bike patrols outside the building.
Officials didn’t specifically address where all of the resources needed to implement the plan would come from, but Williams has said he is considering proposing legislation that would allow D.C. police officers to work part time at city schools when they are not on regular duty. Officials also said the plan would not pull officers off their regular street patrols.
“The plan is the beginning of what we have to do to recapture our schools,” said Councilwoman Sandy Allen, whose Ward 8 district includes Ballou.