In wake of Friday's school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the Fresno Police Department is taking steps it hopes will deter anything like this from happening, in Fresno. The department is assuring parents that officers will be increasing patrols around schools. Fresno Police Sgt. Rodney Cancio explained, “We're asking all the patrol officers to on top of their regular duties to exit their police cars, walk the school campuses and be visible along the school campuses.”
The extra officers will be in addition to school police officers already assigned. They also have security cameras in place.
“The majority of the schools in Fresno Unified School District have cameras and from the safety office at the school district, we can monitor the schools,” said Cancio.
Clovis Unified is also stepping it up. District officials are reviewing their safety procedures.
Clovis Unified School District public information officer Kelly Avants said, “What we're doing now is going back and involving law enforcement in helping us audit all of those procedures in trying to use a very realistic lens.”
The district conducts emergency drills. It also has strict check in procedures and 11 sworn officers on duty. Avants said, “There's an officer at every one of our secondary schools and they are readily available at the elementary schools in their area.”
Clovis Unified also enforce a strict dress code.
“The fact that it helps us know immediately if there's somebody on our campuses that just shouldn't be there, someone doesn't look like a student, our staff could jump into overdrive and be vigilant in that respect,” said Avants.
Some valley schools are also thinking about fully locking gates on campuses and possibly installing more video cameras in schools.
TXT 24
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