Tom Barrett: Send in the Cops

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett thinks more police officers in more schools is the way to combat the problem of violence.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Mayor Tom Barrett is calling for a dramatic increase in police stationed in Milwaukee Public Schools, from six officers in two high schools to 36 officers in 12 schools, in his 2008 city budget.

Barrett said Wednesday that the officers assigned to the schools from September through May could be shifted into beefed-up neighborhood patrols during the summer.

...City and school officials say this year's pilot program already has improved security for students and teachers at Bradley Tech and Custer high schools. The leader of a school safety task force, however, questioned whether city decisions were based more on politics than on substance.

Barrett and MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos will hold a news conference today to announce the plan, part of the budget Barrett will recommend Tuesday to the Common Council.

Andrekopoulos said he's not ready yet to announce publicly which schools will be included in the expansion, but his priority will be large high schools.

Last year, the School Board voted for the first time to bring police officers into the schools regularly. Until then, the schools had relied primarily on unarmed school safety aides who would call in police only when needed to deal with specific incidents.

Although the 230 safety aides remain on the front lines of security in most schools, the experimental program added armed police as "school resource officers," starting in February. The officers spend most of their time on community relations, talking with students and parents, rather than responding to emergencies, Andrekopoulos said.

It would cost $2.2 million to implement the program.

That's a lot of money to be spent on "community relations."

There's no need to put a pretty face on this. Let's be honest. Some Milwaukee public schools are dens of violence, chaos, and crime.

Police are needed on site to maintain order. That's the sorry state of some public schools in the city.

Barrett is pushing the idea of an increased police presence because having officers stationed at Bradley Tech and Custer helped to cut down on calls for police service.

Isn't it obvious that calls would be down if police were already there?

"We have seen a safer learning environment for our students" and increased safety for teachers, as well, Barrett said.

I would hope so.

If having an armed police presence at schools doesn't make them safer, what will?

...Lenard Wells, a former police lieutenant who is leading a community task force looking at safety in MPS, said no city or district leaders had mentioned expanding the police presence to his panel.

"If they have done a thorough evaluation and find it is needed, yes, they should" expand the number of police officers, Wells said.

Yet Wells added that he is continually frustrated that city leaders "are responding to the press; they are not responding to the issues inside the schools."

The mayor is "knee-jerking all the time," Wells said. "That's no way to run the city and not a good way to run the schools."

Wells is right.

Barrett is a knee-jerker.

He's not an effective leader. He's a too little, too late reactor.