School Security
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Watsonville Police Department Receives $100,000 from The United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to Implement A Video Security Recording System At Selective PVUSD School Sites
Watsonville, Ca; Wednesday, November 22, 2006; The United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) awarded the City of Watsonville $100,000 effective September 1, 2006, to enhance school security safety efforts in partnership with the Pajaro Valley Unified School. The COPS office provided $14.8 million in grants to 174 local law enforcement agencies in 38 states to increase school safety. Twelve California law enforcement agencies received grants under this program. These grants were awarded under COPS Secure Our Schools program, which supports local efforts to improve security in schools and on school grounds. The Secure Our Schools program will provide up to 50 percent of the total cost for communities to install equipment and devices to help deter and prevent crime and disorder.
Funding for the local security initiative will provide the Pajaro Valley Unified School District and the Watsonville Police Department with hardware and software to implement for the first time a video security recording system at selected District school sites. The District is giving the police department access to their school-based wireless resources so police officers using computers in their patrol vehicles will be able to view video from the security cameras. The PVUSD wireless system also supports the police officers contacting criminal justice resources (Amber Alert System, Sex Offender Database, CAL-Photo) through a wireless connection. This will assist mobile policing by providing police officers with the ability to easily send or receive photographs, maps, and building plans. An outcome of course is that police officers will be spending more time in and around the campus to connect to the wireless connection. The goal of the initiative is to improve and maintain a safe school environment through a partnership between the Watsonville Police Department and the Pajaro Valley Unified School District in coordination with the Safe Schools/Healthy Students collaborative. The agencies will deploy security technology accessed by law enforcement officers and school district personnel to create a comprehensive, coordinated response.
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