By Madina Toure
City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) introduced legislation last week that would require the NYPD to provide some security measures for non-public schools.
The bill would provide non-public schools with more security if they ask for it, such as surveillance cameras and NYPD school safety agents. Non-public schools are defined as nonprofit elementary or secondary schools that are not public schools.
Koo said recent events such as the Peshawar school massacre in Pakistan and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., who years ago on Dec. 14, made it necessary to pass the bill.
“All of our children, whether they attend public or private school, deserve the same level of protection while they are being educated,” Koo said in a statement. “This is not the case right now, and it’s unacceptable. That’s why we need to pass this important piece of legislation as soon as possible.”
The NYPD would be required to provide children who attend non-public schools with some or all of the security services that the city Department of Education already uses to protect children in its public schools, according to the legislation.
The security measures include placement of school safety officers and the use of video cameras or metal detectors under the proposed legislation. The DOE can decide whether to bring school safety officers to schools.
Councilman Chaim Deutsch (D-Sheepshead Bay), chairman of the New York City Council’s Subcommittee on Non-Public Schools, co-sponsored the bill.
“The assignment of uniformed NYPD School Safety Agents, who have direct access to police officers on patrol in the precinct which the school is located in, are needed now more than ever,” Deutsch said in a statement.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtoure@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.
