Students want police inside D.C. schools

D.C. high school students said yesterday that more city police officers should be inside public schools, instead of the private security guards who are protecting their classmates and teachers.

“The police are trained to do the job,” said Renee Prather-Hairston of Wilson Senior High in Northwest. “If students are doing what they are supposed to do, the police pose no threat.”

Renee, 17, was among 120 students from 12 D.C. public high schools yesterday who discussed the issue and other civic concerns as part of the annual YMCA D.C. Youth and Government Legislative Weekend at American University.

Francisco Chavarria, of Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School on Florida Avenue in Northwest, also wants more police officers in schools and said security guards need better training if they are going to continue to do the job.

“There are students at Cesar Chavez who have drugs,” said Francisco, 15. “I’ve seen a student with a knife in school.”

Though students and civic leaders yesterday had varying opinions about police in schools, the fatal shooting last year inside Ballou High School in Southeast was for most a defining moment in the call for change.

On Feb. 2, 2004, Thomas J. Boykin, 19, got a gun inside the school and fatally shot classmate James Richardson, 17. Boykin pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter. Sentencing is scheduled for June 16. Prosecutors say Boykin faces up to 65 years in prison.

Capt. Keith Williams of the Metropolitan Police Department was among those who participated in yesterday’s discussions and called the Ballou incident a “galvanizing force” behind the agency’s newly formed School Safety Division.

The D.C. Council passed a measure in November that effective July 1 will give the police department control over school contract security guards.

“We will recruit and train” the security guards, he said. “That’s what that bill did.”

Capt. Williams said the changes will include extensive background checks for the guards and training by the police department.

“There is certain criteria they must meet,” he said. Safety “will improve because the Metropolitan Police Department will be accountable.”

Security for D.C. schools is provided by Watkins Security Agency of D.C. Inc.

The contract with the company was set to expire Jan. 7, but the D.C. Council approved emergency legislation in December to retain it until at least June.

The decision came despite a report by city auditors last summer that found the firm to be the “least technically competent” and most expensive among five bidders, The Washington Times reported.

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