Integration of Law Enforcement Into School Safety

Project Summary for 2001-IJ-CX-0037 In the proposed project, the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) will conduct research on the formation and operation of a School Safety Council, which will bring together laeders of agencies and groups that address school safety in the city, including the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD), the Milwaukee Transit Security Division, the county sheriff's department, and resident associations. To begin operations in August 2001, the council will set priorities and develop strategies to continue or modify arrangements among the MPS and law enforcements resources. Data will include information from official MPS and MPD records. The appplicant, in collaboration with a research team from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will look at the distribution of student disciplinary incidents and resulting administrative actions both before and after the Council's work has been implemented. The MPS centralized database of records includes school incidents, bus incidents, and incidents of teacher assaults, all of which can be broken down at the school district level for all police activity and, more specifically, by school squads activity. Research results will be disseminated to both the law enforcement and education communities, particularly to other urban school districts via the Council of Great Schools and a Web page. ca/ncf