By Anthony Rifilato
The district granted a contract to Arrow Security, which will provide unarmed patrols throughout the district this year. The patrols began over the Labor Day weekend.
"We felt it was the time," said Mike Sheehan, director of facilities, operations and safety. "We had real limited security on the premises."
Sheehan explained that though the district works with the 1st Police Precinct and the Baldwin Auxiliary Police - and maintains good relationships with both - the district felt that it needed to increase its own coverage of its schools and buildings.
"Obviously, [police] don't have time to devote entirely to the schools," Sheehan said. "Hopefully, the coverage will be more intense."
Arrow Security will provide the district with a "roving patrol," which Sheehan said will consist of one unarmed, New York State certified security guard in one vehicle. One security guard will be assigned to Baldwin each day. They will patrol the schools Monday through Friday and on the weekends, Sheehan said.
They will also enter the buildings. Sheehan said that the decision to hire Arrow was not based on any incidents within the district, but rather to prevent loitering and to address incidents that may arise.
"The main purpose is to prevent people from hanging out on school property," Sheehan said.
While there have been some complaints in the past from parents about loitering on school or district grounds after dark, Sheehan said that there have been no major incidents recently.
"We have been pretty quiet after hours," Sheehan said. "We've had limited graffiti, typical kid stuff. When we did have a problem in the past, we would find out the next day. Now, they can deal with the situations sooner."
The district already has two school resource officers assigned to it by the 1st Precinct, a relationship that will continue, Sheehan said. At a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting, Inspector Rick Capece said that there had been some talk by the department of removing the police presence at the high school, mainly due to budget issues. But Capece said that idea was ultimately scrapped and would have been a bad move, despite the department's contention that there has not been a high amount of criminal activity at the high school, he said.
"I feel that [school resource officers] prevent certain activity," Capece said, adding that the 1st Precinct has a great rapport with the district. Capece also said that one of his main concerns is the number of students crossing Grand Avenue to go to Checkers during lunch or after school. Capece explained that the kids don't cross the street at the corner or the crosswalk, something that it is dangerous considering the amount of traffic on Grand.
"It's a disaster waiting to happen," said Capece, who added that he is working with the district to address the issue.
Comments about this story? Baldwineditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 207.
