"We're hoping to see long term good relationships between students and officers," said Roseann St.,”

Less than one week into a program that plants police officers in Milwaukee Public Schools, officials are taking a positive outlook.

"We're hoping to see long-term good relationships between students and officers," said Roseann St. Aubin, spokeswoman for MPS.

MPS and the Milwaukee Police Department launched two pilot programs in five schools Feb. 8 that provide officers as backup for problems that may arise throughout the school day.

"We want to defuse problems before they get out of hand, reduce the number of times officers are called to schools and foster an appropriate environment for education," said Eighth District Alderman Bob Donovan, chair of the Common Council's Public Safety Committee.

Many elected officials believe the School Resource Officers pilot program is a good one but wish issues in the public schools had not deteriorated to this point.

"Part of me is saddened that we have to have officers present in a school setting, but we must do whatever we can to create a safe environment for our kids to learn," said Common Council President Willie L. Hines Jr.

Donovan echoed these sentiments and added that last year's 11,000 calls from MPS to MPD makes police in schools a necessity.

MPS has set up two types of programs. The first puts two police officers into Bradley Technical and Trade High School, 700 S. Fourth St., full-time. The second assigns two officers in a squad car to a cluster of schools.

The officers are based in Custer High School, 5075 N. Sherman Blvd., and also respond to calls from Edison middle and high schools, Thurston Woods Elementary School and the two campuses of the 35th Street School.

St. Aubin said MPS will decide which model works best after the program has been in place for one year.

"In our initial agreement, we were thinking of the cluster approach," St. Aubin said. "As the discussion continued, someone brought up the idea of embedding officers for a second model."

According to St. Aubin, the decision about which schools to use in the pilot programs had more to do with staff, principal and parent input than issues at particular schools.

Bradley Tech, which is testing the embedded officer model, was the site of a violent fight after a basketball game against Bay View High School Jan. 30 where six people were injured and 10 were arrested.

"By the students getting to know officers by name and building trust, we hope for a reduction in fighting," St. Aubin said.

"We're seeing fighting and difficulties coming in off the street and then they continue in the schools."

St. Aubin also said the School Resource Officers program focuses on middle and high schools since fifth grade is the typical age when school officials begin to see serious violence and lack of respect for authority.

MPS has also asked four community groups to be available for community feedback about the SRO program.

"The school board wanted something in place so that if people have questions or problems, they can call us. We're an independent party," said Steve Fendt, executive director of the Southside Organizing Committee, one of the feedback groups.

The other groups involved with the new project are the Milwaukee Urban League, NAACP and the United Community Center.

"We've taken no polls, but my sense of the community's feelings is that people support the idea of more police in schools and in the neighborhoods," Fendt said. "We don't expect there to be any, or very few complaints."

School and police department officials plan on meeting in June, at the end of the school year, to assess and evaluate the SRO program's progress.

"We want to ask: 'Are the models working? Is this the best use of officer time?' " St. Aubin said. "We'll be looking at the number of calls received and police response time."

Whether or not the pilot programs will be expanded to all public schools is still up for debate.

"I don't think it's in the immediate future. It's not a blanket practice," said Jennifer Morales, school board member from MPS's Fifth District. "We have to look realistically at the funding. This is partially funded by MPS and partially by MPD. It's a balancing act between two publicly funded agencies."

“