I'm looking for some information about this agency, specifically what union represents their patrol officers. If someone from BSP could PM me, I'd appreciate it.
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King, Cleveland rank in Top 5 for calling the cops
By Laura Crimaldi
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Two Dorchester middle schools, including one slated for closure in 2008, last year ranked among the top five busiest schools for police calls, including violent crimes like assaults and weapons violations, records show.
The Marting Luther King Jr. school tops the middle school list with 141 incidents, including 11 reports of assault and battery, 25 "affrays" and three reports of marijuana possession, according to Boston school police records.
"It's kind of out of control, but nothing about it is that horrible," said Kyshawn Hill, 14, an eighth-grader at King who said he feels safe in the classroom.
Hill and his friend, Mary Boyd, 15, said there have been fights between students and attacks on teachers since they entered the school, but they insisted the violence is exaggerated.
"Our school is not a bad school," Boyd said.
At the Grover Cleveland Middle School in Fields Corner, school police records show there were 126 incidents last year, including 10 reports of assault and battery, two reports of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and one report of possession of an illegal weapon other than a firearm.
"We work on it. We work on it all the time," said Cleveland Principal Andy Tuite, who noted the number of incidents has decreased annually in the past three years. "Being here, you wouldn't get that impression there was chaos."
King Principal Audrey Leung-Tat did not respond to a request for comment made through a Boston Public Schools spokesman.
The incident reports, which cover everything from accidental fire alarms and car accidents to drug use assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, are written up by school officers who are encouraged to report even the most minor occurences.
"Just because a school ranks No. 1 in incident reports does not mean it's the most violent," said Boston School Police Chief John Sisco. "Most of the things that occur are not of a violent nature."
Cleveland and King are part of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, a federal grant program that awarded the Hub more than $2.8 million to prevent violence and substance abuse among students.
"It's not like these things are going ignored. It's the reality we have to face," said Cherelle Webster-Payne, a social worker at Cleveland who said the school's climate is no different from other middle schools she's worked in.
Webster-Payne helped the school's student leadership council organize a "Peace Week" last year that included workshops with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and a candlelight vigil.
This year, Webster-Payne said new curricula on anti-bullying and violence and substance abuse prevention are being introduced. Cleveland, which has experienced declining enrollment and low test scores, is slated to close next year.
"The only things we have to do is make plans for tomorrow and work with the positive," Webster-Payne said. "We can't be so defeated and say, 'It's so bad.' "
By Laura Crimaldi
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Two Dorchester middle schools, including one slated for closure in 2008, last year ranked among the top five busiest schools for police calls, including violent crimes like assaults and weapons violations, records show.
The Marting Luther King Jr. school tops the middle school list with 141 incidents, including 11 reports of assault and battery, 25 "affrays" and three reports of marijuana possession, according to Boston school police records.
"It's kind of out of control, but nothing about it is that horrible," said Kyshawn Hill, 14, an eighth-grader at King who said he feels safe in the classroom.
Hill and his friend, Mary Boyd, 15, said there have been fights between students and attacks on teachers since they entered the school, but they insisted the violence is exaggerated.
"Our school is not a bad school," Boyd said.
At the Grover Cleveland Middle School in Fields Corner, school police records show there were 126 incidents last year, including 10 reports of assault and battery, two reports of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and one report of possession of an illegal weapon other than a firearm.
"We work on it. We work on it all the time," said Cleveland Principal Andy Tuite, who noted the number of incidents has decreased annually in the past three years. "Being here, you wouldn't get that impression there was chaos."
King Principal Audrey Leung-Tat did not respond to a request for comment made through a Boston Public Schools spokesman.
The incident reports, which cover everything from accidental fire alarms and car accidents to drug use assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, are written up by school officers who are encouraged to report even the most minor occurences.
"Just because a school ranks No. 1 in incident reports does not mean it's the most violent," said Boston School Police Chief John Sisco. "Most of the things that occur are not of a violent nature."
Cleveland and King are part of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, a federal grant program that awarded the Hub more than $2.8 million to prevent violence and substance abuse among students.
"It's not like these things are going ignored. It's the reality we have to face," said Cherelle Webster-Payne, a social worker at Cleveland who said the school's climate is no different from other middle schools she's worked in.
Webster-Payne helped the school's student leadership council organize a "Peace Week" last year that included workshops with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and a candlelight vigil.
This year, Webster-Payne said new curricula on anti-bullying and violence and substance abuse prevention are being introduced. Cleveland, which has experienced declining enrollment and low test scores, is slated to close next year.
"The only things we have to do is make plans for tomorrow and work with the positive," Webster-Payne said. "We can't be so defeated and say, 'It's so bad.' "
School assaults have Hub kids fighting to learn
By O'Ryan Johnson and Michele McPhee
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Madison Park High School tops the list of the Hub's 10 most dangerous schools, where more than 200 students were victims of assault and battery last year, according to statistics obtained by the Herald.
In 60 of those cases, the attacker used a weapon. In fact, administrators confiscated more than 300 knives or other edged weapons from students at those 10 schools last year, but school officials insist many students carrying weapons do so as a misguided step to defend themselves on the way to and from school.
"We're a microcosm of the city," said Charles McAfee, headmaster at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School. "A lot of crime starts in the streets over the weekend. Then when they come to school on Monday they bring those issues to the front door, and we have to deal with them."
Added Boston Public School spokesman Jonathan Palumbo: "The bottom line is, it is a problem if there's one knife in one school. It means you need to do more. The issue we need to continually address is 'Why?' "
McAfee, an educator with more than 30 years in the school system, said that when students resort to violence they do so out of a frustrated attempt at communication.
"This is still about young people learning how to communicate with each other," he said. "They react before they think. You sit them down five minutes later and you ask them why they were fighting and they don't even remember. They're not hateful, angry, violent kids."
Madison Park had the highest reported cases of assault and battery of any school in Boston last school year with 22, including those where the suspect used a weapon. It also had the highest reported number of students caught with marijuana with 13, and administrators seized 37 knives or edged weapons.
But McAfee attributed his school's high crime tally to rigorous reporting criteria that force officials to write up every incident. "We also have the highest student population," he said.
McAfee pointed out that his school has also made academic strides such as a 20-point boost in English and math scores on MCAS exams, and now sends 60 percent of its seniors to college, while lowering crime inside the building.
This month, a 15-year-old Charlestown High School student, George Walsh, was busted along with another teen for allegedly firing blasts from a high-powered, pump-action shotgun at three classmates - missing his targets.
The incident came a day after a South Boston High School student discovered a fully loaded 9 mm pistol hidden under a bush near that school. The 17-year-old student wrapped the weapon in his sweater and walked it to the nearby State Police barracks in South Boston.
That discovery prompted City Council President Michael Flaherty to urge school police to conduct sweeps around school properties for "community guns" - weapons that are stashed in a location known only to individuals hellbent on violence.
"A kid finding a loaded weapon within feet of a school is unacceptable," Flaherty said.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said that in a system with 62,000 children, violence is inevitable. School shootings are one of the reasons that heand 109 other city mayors from 44 states, have formed Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition that has vowed to make it tougher for criminals to obtain weapons.
"We do everything we can to keep the schools safe," Menino said. "With that many students, there are bound to be incidents beyond our control."
By O'Ryan Johnson and Michele McPhee
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Madison Park High School tops the list of the Hub's 10 most dangerous schools, where more than 200 students were victims of assault and battery last year, according to statistics obtained by the Herald.
In 60 of those cases, the attacker used a weapon. In fact, administrators confiscated more than 300 knives or other edged weapons from students at those 10 schools last year, but school officials insist many students carrying weapons do so as a misguided step to defend themselves on the way to and from school.
"We're a microcosm of the city," said Charles McAfee, headmaster at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School. "A lot of crime starts in the streets over the weekend. Then when they come to school on Monday they bring those issues to the front door, and we have to deal with them."
Added Boston Public School spokesman Jonathan Palumbo: "The bottom line is, it is a problem if there's one knife in one school. It means you need to do more. The issue we need to continually address is 'Why?' "
McAfee, an educator with more than 30 years in the school system, said that when students resort to violence they do so out of a frustrated attempt at communication.
"This is still about young people learning how to communicate with each other," he said. "They react before they think. You sit them down five minutes later and you ask them why they were fighting and they don't even remember. They're not hateful, angry, violent kids."
Madison Park had the highest reported cases of assault and battery of any school in Boston last school year with 22, including those where the suspect used a weapon. It also had the highest reported number of students caught with marijuana with 13, and administrators seized 37 knives or edged weapons.
But McAfee attributed his school's high crime tally to rigorous reporting criteria that force officials to write up every incident. "We also have the highest student population," he said.
McAfee pointed out that his school has also made academic strides such as a 20-point boost in English and math scores on MCAS exams, and now sends 60 percent of its seniors to college, while lowering crime inside the building.
This month, a 15-year-old Charlestown High School student, George Walsh, was busted along with another teen for allegedly firing blasts from a high-powered, pump-action shotgun at three classmates - missing his targets.
The incident came a day after a South Boston High School student discovered a fully loaded 9 mm pistol hidden under a bush near that school. The 17-year-old student wrapped the weapon in his sweater and walked it to the nearby State Police barracks in South Boston.
That discovery prompted City Council President Michael Flaherty to urge school police to conduct sweeps around school properties for "community guns" - weapons that are stashed in a location known only to individuals hellbent on violence.
"A kid finding a loaded weapon within feet of a school is unacceptable," Flaherty said.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said that in a system with 62,000 children, violence is inevitable. School shootings are one of the reasons that heand 109 other city mayors from 44 states, have formed Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition that has vowed to make it tougher for criminals to obtain weapons.
"We do everything we can to keep the schools safe," Menino said. "With that many students, there are bound to be incidents beyond our control."
Reading, this causes me to think how hard is it to get tossed from a boston public school? To the BPSP guys, how do they determine when you guys get involved and how do they determine when it gets handled by admins or is it a mixture of A and B. I'm sure you guys run into alot of admin stone walling but, how hard is it to get yourself booted out nowadays. Once againthough my hat goes off to you needing to police so much when so much is taken from you.
It depends on the school. Some schools you don't do anything until $#IT hits the fan because there are trained couselors who us different restraints and verbal judo to handle the situation. In other words they protect him/her because if we step in, the kids is getting locked up because the kid is out of control.
Other schools, you walk around get involved as you see fit or if you are called to an area of the building. Officers have gone to schools and had knives or drugs turned in a week later and they want something done. We ask why they held onto the evidence so long and I wonder how much is missing.
We have big fights officers get hurt and kids get locked up and if an admin doesn't like you but likes the kid, the kid doesn't get suspended. We have a kid throw an eraser across the room, it hits a teacher on the foot and he gets expelled and they want an ABDW report.
I've found that a lot of Admin works well if they understand our job and respect us. However, if either one is not present, it's a constant struggle. I've had admin ask me why I didn't lock someone up. Politely I tell them because I wouldn't waste the court's time for such a minor thing and it's not worth the paperwork. Usually being the liberal nutjobs that some of them are, they respect that because I saved a tree.
It's easier for an officer to get booted out of a school than it is for a student to get booted out. Then you want to throw in the fact that a kid is "special ed", he's protected more than anyone could ever believe. When I went to
school, they had a special room for these kids in a school where they received extra help and then you had a room for special needs. We have entire schools dedicated to this and then we have certain wings in a school dedicated to this as well (aside from these "special" schools)
Other schools, you walk around get involved as you see fit or if you are called to an area of the building. Officers have gone to schools and had knives or drugs turned in a week later and they want something done. We ask why they held onto the evidence so long and I wonder how much is missing.
We have big fights officers get hurt and kids get locked up and if an admin doesn't like you but likes the kid, the kid doesn't get suspended. We have a kid throw an eraser across the room, it hits a teacher on the foot and he gets expelled and they want an ABDW report.
I've found that a lot of Admin works well if they understand our job and respect us. However, if either one is not present, it's a constant struggle. I've had admin ask me why I didn't lock someone up. Politely I tell them because I wouldn't waste the court's time for such a minor thing and it's not worth the paperwork. Usually being the liberal nutjobs that some of them are, they respect that because I saved a tree.
It's easier for an officer to get booted out of a school than it is for a student to get booted out. Then you want to throw in the fact that a kid is "special ed", he's protected more than anyone could ever believe. When I went to
school, they had a special room for these kids in a school where they received extra help and then you had a room for special needs. We have entire schools dedicated to this and then we have certain wings in a school dedicated to this as well (aside from these "special" schools)
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