|
Home Search |
Published on Sunday, August 1, 2004
in the Lake City Reporter
Local law enforcement authorities are gearing up for the upcoming school year and plan to have patrols in local school zones to protect children.
Lake City Police Department Capt. Gary Laxton, said the police department will have additional officers monitoring school zones.
"We will have extra patrol cars looking at and targeting school zones," he said.
Laxton, who said the officers will be working the zones morning and afternoons, said it's important to have officers visible at the school zones.
"It's a good reminder to the general motoring public that school is back in session and we (authorities) need to get their attention re-focused," he said.
Columbia County Sheriff Frank Owens said the sheriff's office will also have additional deputies patrolling school zones.
He said each school year the sheriff's office contacts all the local law enforcement and state agencies to help with school crossings.
"Usually we do it about the first two weeks as people forget about where school crossings are and during the summer they get relaxed," he said. "The first couple of weeks we have the lights flashing and try to have extra marked units at all those crossings."
"We want to remind people that school is back in," said Florida Highway Patrol Troop B public relations officer, Mike Burroughs. "We want to have a strong presence there with high visibility. Motorists are going to see more visibility of law enforcement officers and more enforcement. When it comes to school zones, we have no tolerance. We don't want to risk the life of a child."
Burroughs said officers also experience problems with motorists disregarding and passing school buses.
He said people need to obey the stop arms of school buses because the first week of school is confusing for children who may not know how to cross streets to get on their bus as well as for bus drivers who are looking for new bus stops.
"One of the biggest problems we've seen in the county is there is a big misunderstanding in the law - if there is not a grassy median present, traffic in both directions must stop for the school bus,' he said of roadways like U.S. 90. "If there is not a grassy median at least 5 feet wide, a raised concrete median or guardrail, traffic in both directions must stop for the bus."
Failure to stop for a school bus is punishable by a $155.50 fine, while passing a school bus is a $253.50 fine, with a mandatory court appearance.
"The goal is not to punish anybody, but keep our children safe," Burroughs said.
Once students have arrived at school, there will also be a more visible enforcement presence as the Columbia County Sheriff's Office will have nine school resource officers in local schools this year, with both high schools getting two officers each. The sheriff's office also received a grant for two additional resource officers.
"We focus on the law enforcement and safety issues, school discipline and school rules are a secondary thing for us," Owens said. "We are there as law enforcement folks. If we focus on one thing, it would be strangers coming on school campuses."
School resource officers are not mandatory at any school, but a majority of local schools have requested resource officers.
David Green, a school resource officer at Westside and Summers elementary schools, said he is excited about getting back working with a new elementary drug prevention program called "Too Good For Drugs."
"It gives me an opportunity to interact with the children and learn more about them and learn, more on a personal level, about their home lives and the things that they look forward to doing," he said. "I'll teach them about drugs and the harmful effects of drugs. It's just an opportunity to be able to work with kids on a proactive, instead of reactive, basis to a problem that exists."
Clint Dicks, who is in his fourth year as a school resource officer, said he is also looking forward to a safe year with the students.
"All the resource officers take pride in being invisible if we can deter any kind of crime or problem that's going on," he said. "I'm also looking forward to working with the school staff and developing relationships with them, also."