Richland high school students beware, there's someone watching
RICHLAND - Problems like drug use, sex and petty crime have always been an issue for high schools.
Times are no different today. Richland Police has decided to take control and use a new tactic.
This new program includes 6 volunteers that are a part of "Directed School Patrols."
Their job is to look for funny business during the lunch hour when kids are scattered around campus at Richland and Hanford High.
"Their goal is to focus on the outside of the school, they do not do inside the school patrol. The school handles that. They are just eyes and ears", explains Officer Rick Kane.
The volunteers work closely with the schools resource officers to give them information that might otherwise be missed.
And by using these volunteers, it doesn't cost taxpayers anything extra.
"We've stopped some kids from smoking. I think we're a little bit of a deterrent and that's really our function here", says Volunteer Chris Newbill.
Parents are thrilled to know the city is proactive about protecting their kids.
"For the average mom and dad or whomever I think it’s like a peace of mind that there is safety in our community and that there are advocates doing something", says parent Cleveland Pratt.
These added patrols are keeping a closer watch on safety and are focusing in on areas where kids used to think, no one was watching.
To make sure we got all sides, KEPR asked both high school principals about how they felt the program was working.
Hanford's principal is very happy with it and needed that extra set of eyes. Richland's principal wasn't aware these patrols were going on.
Times are no different today. Richland Police has decided to take control and use a new tactic.
This new program includes 6 volunteers that are a part of "Directed School Patrols."
Their job is to look for funny business during the lunch hour when kids are scattered around campus at Richland and Hanford High.
"Their goal is to focus on the outside of the school, they do not do inside the school patrol. The school handles that. They are just eyes and ears", explains Officer Rick Kane.
The volunteers work closely with the schools resource officers to give them information that might otherwise be missed.
And by using these volunteers, it doesn't cost taxpayers anything extra.
"We've stopped some kids from smoking. I think we're a little bit of a deterrent and that's really our function here", says Volunteer Chris Newbill.
Parents are thrilled to know the city is proactive about protecting their kids.
"For the average mom and dad or whomever I think it’s like a peace of mind that there is safety in our community and that there are advocates doing something", says parent Cleveland Pratt.
These added patrols are keeping a closer watch on safety and are focusing in on areas where kids used to think, no one was watching.
To make sure we got all sides, KEPR asked both high school principals about how they felt the program was working.
Hanford's principal is very happy with it and needed that extra set of eyes. Richland's principal wasn't aware these patrols were going on.
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