Schools / Education news

Anaheim Union High School District has decided to expand its nationally recognized community policing program to all 16 campuses.

District trustees asked staff members to research grant opportunities and set program goals, school board President Harald Martin said.

The current program, a joint effort between the district and the Anaheim Police Department, is credited with reducing campus crime by nearly 50%.

Trustees said they want to see the program, which now consists of two officers and a district employee, expanded to eight officers, each assigned to a high school and its feeder junior high.

“Most people did agree that we as a school district and as a community would benefit from more community policing,” Martin said. “It is the consensus of the board that it is a good program that’s working well and that expansion is a good idea.”

Because the district has campuses in several cities, the Anaheim, Cypress and La Palma police departments would be involved in the expansion, Martin said.

He said he expects the new program, which the district hopes to have in place by the 1998-99 school year, to include more than just gang violence prevention.

“We want the officers to become someone who the kids recognize is there to help them,” he said.