Dec. 01--Police officials and some Chicago high school principals will begin meeting regularly to share information on how to best fight crime in and around school buildings, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Wednesday.
The expansion of the Chicago Police Department's crime statistic-based program, called CompStat, to some high schools in high-violence neighborhoods is an attempt to break down the "silos" between police and school administrators, the mayor said.
"How do we create that culture of accountability, so the principal doesn't think their only responsibility is the building, and the Police Department thinks their only responsibility is the street, and then we have this gulf, and there's not a plan?" Emanuel said during a news conference at Marshall Metropolitan High School in East Garfield Park.
In some ways, the new approach is a formalization of a partnership that already exists. Marshall Principal Kenyatta Stansberry said she talks regularly with local police commanders, and pointed out that two police officers are stationed in the school daily.
But Stansberry said she expects the regular meetings with police to give her more information to understand what's going on in the neighborhood. "It will give me more data from the community and from the police standpoint," she said.
Emanuel announced the plan on the same day officials unveiled a list of Chicago public schools to be closed. Though parents often express anxiety about the safety of their children traveling to new schools, the mayor said there was no connection in the timing of the announcements.
The first meeting will take place in mid-December, when police brass from the Englewood and Chicago Lawn police districts are scheduled to sit down with principals from five high schools in their area.
The plan is to start with meetings at high schools in high-crime neighborhoods, holding sit-downs at least once a month, according to mayoral spokeswoman Chris Mather. She said police Superintendent Garry McCarthy will monitor the results of the program, and more schools will be added in coming months.
Charter high schools will also be brought in for CompStat meetings, Mather said, and the plan is to eventually set up the program in all city high schools. But the meeting will be held most frequently in high-crime areas, Mather said.
McCarthy is a proponent of CompStat -- in which police district commanders meet with their superiors to discuss tactics in light of crime trends -- from his time on the New York Police Department and as chief of police in Newark, N.J.
Extending the idea to schools makes sense, he said. In addition to helping principals get ready for any neighborhood trouble that might affect the school, the cooperation will let police know to watch out for school-day fracases that can become more serious on the streets, he said.
"The idea is to ensure the cop on the street knows exactly what's going on in the school, and the principal in the school knows exactly what the cop on the street is doing," McCarthy said. "I am sure that this is going to provide a greater level of safety for our kids in a more efficient manner, and will get the job done better."
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