Mayor Petty Announces Increase of Police Presence in Worcester’s Schools

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Patrick Sargent, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

On Wednesday afternoon, Worcester's Mayor Joe Petty announced that Superintendent Dr. Melinda Boone, City Manager Ed Augustus, Police Chief Gary Gemme and he have decided to implement the school resource officer model in the Worcester Public Schools.

The models calls for three additional WPD officers to the already existing four WPD liaisons currently in the schools. The three added officers will serve all eleven secondary schools for the upcoming school year.

“We have always been proactive about the safety of our students and that is why, working with Dr. Boone and Manager Augustus, we will be increasing the number of school resource officers,” said Mayor Petty. “These highly trained officers will foster relationships with students and faculty, continuing to ensure an environment where teachers can teach and students can learn.”

Burncoat High, Doherty High, North High, South High and Worcester Technical High School will continue to have an assigned full-time WPD School Resource Officer. Two additional full-time WPD officers will serve the remaining two grade 7-12 schools and the city's four middle schools.

“The safety and well being of WPS students has always been my number one priority every day, and this year is no exception. These resource officers will be extremely well trained to provide collaboration and support to our school administrative teams so our students can focus on learning,” said Dr. Boone. “We welcome continued partnership with the Worcester Police Department to use a school-based safety model that is used by many districts throughout the country.”

WPS will continue to reimburse the City for the use of the school resource officers. The WPD will shift resources for the additional officers to ensure no additional money is taken out of the classroom.

“The safety of our schools is paramount, and the city is happy to step up to do our part to ensure it,” said City Manager Augustus. “By providing additional officers, we will not only benefit from a day-to-day security presence in our schools, but will help the police build relationships with kids that will be beneficial in a number of ways.”

Chief Gemme will be responsible for selecting the officers for the School Resource Officer roles. The officers will go through specialized training.