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D-Y P.D. Secures $75,000 Federal Grant On
September 29th the Yarmouth Police Department received
notification from the United States Department of Justice, Office of
Community Oriented Policing that our application for just over $75,000
through the 2010 Secure Our Schools Grant had been approved. The
Secure Our Schools (SOS) Grant is a competitive grant program that disburses
$15 million nationally to law enforcement agencies for the express purposes
of improving physical security at their partner schools. The grant has been offered annually since
2006. The application was prepared and
submitted by the Yarmouth Police Department in partnership with the Dennis
Police and The
grant requires a 50% local cash match; meaning the total amount of the
project is just over $150,000. The
availability of the SOS grant was discovered by the Dennis Police in
2006. The Yarmouth Police undertook
the preparation and submission of the grant application and the school
district pledged the matching funds.
The 2006 project totaled $250,000 and paid for an integrated
infrastructure and installation of security equipment at every school in the
regional district. Specifically an
access control system allowed for all schools to be kept locked during
regular school hours with card access for staff. A camera surveillance system has broadened
the ability of school officials and school resource officers to remotely
patrol campuses. A secure visitor
management system is used to screen visitors prior to admittance and checks
the visitor against a watch list of sex offenders and others who are barred
from entry to the schools by restraining orders and other similar
restrictions. The
security hardware project was always conceived as phased project with
incremental expansion to occur each year.
The execution of the 2006 SOS grant ran well into 2008. The effort to obtain the 2009 SOS Grant was
unsuccessful. Securing
the 2010 SOS Grant will allow for expansion of the access control and camera
surveillance system at every school in the district based upon the unique
needs of each. We area also planning
to purchase a product that will allow for improvement and of the school
district’s Emergency Management Plan by moving it from a printed document to
a web-based medium capable of greater and more secure access by school
district and public safety personnel with a significant expansion in content. The
hardware described herein is meant to compliment our safety and security
program, procedures, practices and training programs that have served as a model
for dozens of school districts across the Commonwealth. <<<<->>>> The New Bullying Law In
May of 2010 the Certainly
the average person would be prone to believe that bullying is now a
crime. This would be incorrect. While
there is plenty of “inside baseball” style detail below we like to approach
these articles from an “end user” point of view. What do you
need to know about the new law? At If
you as a student, or as the parent or guardian of a student, are having
trouble with another student, whether the issue is bullying or not, please
notify your assistant principal immediately.
The AP is the first and most effective line of problem solving in
these matters. If police involvement
is required or simply beneficial to solving the problem the administrators
will not hesitate to involve us. We
are also available for direct consultation should you wish it. The
new law is really most helpful to, or has the most impact on, school
districts that have no policy or practice in dealing with bullying. Again, this is not a new problem to us and
we are practiced in dealing with it.
If you need help all you have to do is call or stop by the office. If
you are interested in the nitty-gritty of what the legislature has done read
on, and please keep in mind that our interpretation is strictly from the
police point of view. Senate
Bill 2404 “prohibits” bullying in schools. Specifically the bill created
Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) Chapter 71 § 37O and 603 Code of The
real meat of the statue, as mentioned before, establishes an infrastructure
for school districts to create an anti-bullying plan and procedures to
address bullying. The The
police role in this is really secondary. First, local law enforcement is to
be consulted, as part of a community based committee, in establishing the
District’s anti-bullying policy. Neither
Chapter 71 § 37O nor 603 CMR 49.00 establish a
crime of “Bullying.” Nor do they recommend, mandate or otherwise require a
specific response by law enforcement.
In reality no new law was needed.
Police will simply investigate bullying incidents as harassment or similar
crimes. Police officers tasked with
investigating bullying complaints must apply regular anti-harassment oriented
laws. –
Criminal Harassment
(MGL) –
Unlawful Telephone
Calls (MGL –
Stalking (MGL These
statues were all amended with the passage of the bullying law to be more
clearly inclusive of technology based harassment. Both
the statute and the CMR requires that the principal
or person having a similar role, “Notify
the local law enforcement agency if the school principal or designee believes
that criminal charges may be pursued against a perpetrator;” The procedure for this notification
was put in place before the 2010/2011 school year opened. The procedure mainly applies to schools
where police officers are not regularly assigned. Since As
the end users parents and student should know that even when the notification
is made to the local police by the school it is still incumbent on the
parent/guardian or student to contact the police directly to access
services. Police will not take action
on misdemeanor harassment/bullying incidents based solely on a notification
by the school. Any prosecution for
misdemeanor crimes in the If
the family of a victim of bullying wishes to request police services, that
request must be through police headquarters unless a school resource officer
is assigned to that school. Parents/guardians
and students who have been victims of bullying incidents also have the option
to access court services, including filing criminal charges, without going
through the police. You will find
contact information for all divisions of the Trial Courts of the Commonwealth
serving our area in our Resources
For Parents section. One
of the services available through the Courts, created by the legislature
separate from the anti-bullying law, is the Chapter 258E anti-harassment
protective order. That order is available through the District or
Juvenile Court Divisions of the Trial Court of the Commonwealth, or the
police in instances of narrowly defined emergency on occasions when court is
closed; such as weekends, weeknights and holidays. The 258E order can impose restrictions on a
defendant similar to those in a 209A restraining order. The 258E does not have the family
relationship restriction of the 209A order but it does have a narrow
definition of ‘harassment’ that may not apply to all ‘bullying’ incidents. If
you have any questions about any of this give us a call. |
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