The
Fort Worth Police Department and the Fort Worth Independent School
District have long been partners in the effort to provide a safe
environment for education. What later became the School Liaison
program was begun in 1968 and expanded to 13 teams, each consisting
of a FWISD employee and a police officer, with the school district
assuming all costs. While this program has been highly beneficial,
changes in the community and the schools dictated that a new program
be developed and it was deemed an appropriate project for funding
under the Crime Control and Prevention District.
The
School Security Initiative component is a 5-year project and will
establish shared funding (50/50) of all personnel costs. It adds
10 positions during Year One, eight in Year Two, and also includes
funds for vehicles,
closed-circuit cameras for middle and high schools, cameras for
buses, and metal detectors. This project augments the $2,543,152
that the Fort Worth Independent School District currently expends
annually on security and safety programs. Over the life of the project
it has enable the department to provide an officer for every public
middle and high school located in the City of Fort Worth. Officers
assigned to the project operate in a manner similar to the school
liaison program, although officers are no longer paired with a school
employee.
Officers
assigned to the school provide general police services for their
assigned school, but they also work with the staff at the school
in resolving situations before they become crime problems, ensuring
that problem students receive some type of assistance for behavioral
difficulties, and other similar programs developed in conjunction
with the school principals.
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