The Pittsburgh Division's model
of the "Community Oriented Schools: Adopt a School"
Initiative is a comprehensive and detailed program. It incorporates
the resources of the United States Attorney's Office, Law Enforcement
Coordinating Committee and the local District Attorney's Office
(from the respective county in which the initiative has been
implemented), other federal, state, county, and local law enforcement
as well as a myriad of human service organizations/agencies,
and businesses throughout Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
|
1st Annual Pittsburgh
Divsion "Adopt a School" Leadership Award 2001. Recipient:
Pennsylvania State Representative Jane Claire Orie. |
Working with the Community
The initiative was implemented
in the McKeesport School District (located in Allegheny County)
in January of 1999. In less than three years time, it has expanded
to approximately fifty schools across six counties of Western
Pennsylvania and one county in West Virginia. Additionally, there
are about two hundred and fifty agencies that have partnered
in this endeavor with the Pittsburgh Division.
There are several components
of the program that can be implemented in kindergarten through
12th grade. For instance, the student police academy offers over
thirty subjects for the prospective schools to choose from and
is conducted in sessions ranging from eight to thirty-six weeks.
Instructors from all levels of law enforcement, human service
agencies, and businesses are scheduled to teach classes in their
area of expertise.
|
Shriners Hospital for
Children: Monthly outreach clinics. Syria Shrine Temple Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania |
There are also specialized instructors
for programs such as, "A Look at Safe Schools: Guns, Gangs,
and Violence", which has lesson plans for teachers, parents
and students, Community Oriented Policing, Conflict Resolution/Mediation,
Cultural Diversity/Sensitivity, Mentoring, as well as the services
of the ASSIST (Advancing School Safety Incorporating Strategies
Together) Project.
The ASSIST Project provides for
specially trained teams to offer all school districts the expertise
to organize and convene multi-jurisdictional/disciplinary task
forces, develop long range strategic plans, design crisis response
protocol, incorporate crime prevention programs such as Crime
Prevention Through Environmental Design. Other components include
governmental education sessions, school crime watch, crime stoppers,
mentoring (role model and peer to peer), youth diversion, and
career development in the law enforcement profession.
|
Pittsburgh Division assisted
the Shriners at the annual circus |
The Initiative Model
This model provides proactive
and consistent programming that is presented in such a manner
that a constant presence of resources works with youth in the
schools to assist in various aspects of their lives that place
any/all students at risk. The extensive and comprehensive resource
base of the partnership provides a multi-disciplinary approach
that has the ability to simultaneously address a multitude of
interrelated societal problems, including drugs, gangs, violence,
dysfunctional families, while providing positive influences and
role models.
The initiative explores new approaches
to law enforcement rather than traditional methods of reaction,
arrest and incarceration and begins to address the underlying
problems that may lead a child into a life of crime. With this
principle concept, the "Community Oriented Schools: Adopt
A School" Initiative is one that may bring to fruition an
alternate way of policing and building relationships. It enhances
traditional methods while adding prevention, intervention and
diversion programs that are proactive in nature. This philosophy
embraces an all inclusive concept as the key to success in building
strong communities and schools.