Over the last few weeks, I have had several discussions with friends and neighbors on the issue of school safety – specifically police in schools. One of these discussions led to a meeting with the Chief of the Berkeley Heights Police Department, Jason Massimino, and two other parents who could not disagree with me more on this issue.
There were important outcomes that came about as a result of this meeting. Two I am comfortable sharing include:
(1) The inclusion of data involving police interactions with Students in the BHPD Annual Report (the data is encouraging and linked below)
(2) Chief Massimino being open and interested in having police attend school functions to educate families on several topics, including:
- The Role of and SRO and CIII Officer
- The “Cans” and “Cant’s” of the Role
- Training Requirements
- Rights Children should be aware of
One such engagement is already being planned.
As important – or maybe more important – was me walking away from the meeting with an assurance that our Chief of Police was open to the vulnerabilities of these programs, was not defensive about discussing them, was concerned that the BHPD programs had safeguards in place to address them and was informed about the research.
Police in our schools is probably one of the most popular programs in our town. There wasn’t any good political reason for the Chief to accommodate my concerns …and that’s the point.
While I don’t think I can ever see my way to believing that police in schools is needed or even a good thing and still don’t understand the need for additional police in elementary schools – the money could, in my opinion, be better spent on a whole host of other priorities connected to education- I am today more comfortable with the program than I was two days ago.
I am hopeful about the path forward for our community to reach a middle ground on this issue. I am relieved that someone with influence on these programs acknowledges the data, took my position seriously and was willing to work with my perspective. While these were very small steps, they were, at the same time, very big ones.
This article is about more than just the “small but big steps” to a more effective outcome; it’s also about effective leadership – a model approach other community leaders in Berkeley Heights can pay attention to and an example of how parents who may not see eye to eye on an issue can focus on practical middle grounds in policy discussions that impact all our children.
Screenshot of Data:
