District promises safe schools, despite fewer officers

THE PHILADELPHIA School District's security chief believes that a better alliance between district and city police will improve school safety this year despite a slash of 190 per-diem school-based officers and an increased number of schools without a permanent police presence.

Fifty-three schools, mainly elementary and middle schools, will not have an assigned officer this year, up from 15 at the start of last school year, said Chief Inspector Myron Patterson. There were 30 schools without an assigned officer by the end of last school year, he said.

The district's mobile unit and city police will make "random, periodic checks" at each school based on its number of incidents, he said. There also will be safety-team meetings of city and district police, as well as daily deployment plans.

Patterson, a 25-year Philadelphia Police Department veteran who was loaned to the district last year, will again use Compstat, a system used by many police departments to map crime and identify problems.

Violent incidents across the district declined by 14 percent last year, he said, while violent incidents declined by 17 percent in the district's state-designated "persistently dangerous schools."

Over the past year, officials have put together crisis-management plans for each school, with a focus on Focus 46 schools, where most of the district's reported violent incidents occur, according to Acting Superintendent Leroy Nunery. Officials also have improved methods on reporting and monitoring incidents, he said.