The Syracuse City School District is implementing increased safety measures in cooperation with the Syracuse Police Department.
Up to 20 Syracuse peace officers and two sergeants will be placed in middle and K-8 schools through August. The agreement between the city school district and police department was approved by the school board in a special meeting this week.
Tom Ristoff, Syracuse School District Director of Public Safety, said the additional personnel will offer increased safety against outside threats.
“This is about really being able to have a presence there in case there is an external threat of safety to our staff and our students,” Ristoff said.
Ristoff said the number and nature of threats to schools have changed throughout his 18 years with the school district. Anticipating those changes is an important part of district safety measures.
“It’s constantly evolving,” Riscoff said. “Threats are evolving, incidents are evolving, so we try to stay one step ahead.”
Officers will receive training specifically for school safety placements. Ristoff said this is an important measure for officers and will help them connect with students.
“We want them to build a rapport with our students and staff,” Ristoff said. “Just to be there so that if a student sees something or a staff member sees something that is cause for concern that they feel comfortable knowing, you know, ‘I don’t have to call 9-1-1,’ I can just go to the officer in my school.”
The approval for additional police officers to be hired in schools follows the deadly Nashville school shooting on Monday — and came just before numerous false reports of active school shootings were reported Thursday. Local police agencies responded to false reports of shots fired at Westhill High School near Syracuse, Proctor High School in Utica, Rome Free Academy in Rome and a number of schools across the state.
Ristoff said above all, schools should be a place where people feel protected and safe to learn and educate. The increase in officers at schools will help to ensure that
“School should be a place that kids feel safe to learn and staff feels safe to report so that they teach kids,” Ristoff said.
New York State Police are continuing to work with local and federal partners to investigate the false reports.
