posted by Mike Madison at 11:58 AM /
At last night's meeting, the Mt. Lebanon Commission reversed its earlier decision to transfer a Mt. Lebanon police officer to Keystone Oaks High School. At his blog, Commissioner Dan Miller posted a note explaining his opposition to the transfer and a follow-up note confirming the Commission's decision last night. Dan reports that he had heard from a lot of Mt. Lebanon citizens who objected to the Commission's initial decision. Those objections made their way to my In box as well. Here is an example:
Blog-Lebo's earlier post on the topic is here.
The Commission's original decision was made in spite of a contrary recommendation by Mt. Lebanon's outgoing Chief of Police, Tom Ogden. Chief Ogden apparently cautioned initially that the officer to be assigned to KO would be pulled from traffic enforcement. It appears that plenty of people were unhappy with the Commission's decision even given that impact, but community mobilization against the KO decision was made more intense by information that the police department would re-assign an officer who had been working in Mt. Lebanon schools.
I do not know what Keystone Oaks officials, or KO students and families, think of the decision. Much as we all want to do what's best for our own children, I can't help but think that the decision not to assign a Mt. Lebanon police officer to KO does just a wee bit of harm to the broader concept of community. "KO wins, Lebo loses" -- and now the reverse -- is a zero-sum approach to public safety. Is there a win-win-win option waiting to be explored for KO, the Mt. Lebanon Police Department, and Lebo schools?
URGENT: ACTION ALERT
Officer Mike Riemer being reassigned to Keytone Oaks - removed from working with Mt. Lebanon Schools August 10,
2008
As many of you may be aware, Mt. Lebanon Commissioners have agreed to accept $60, 000 from Keystone Oaks School District to have a Mt. Lebanon police officer permanently stationed at their High School beginning in the next few weeks. It was decided to take this position from the crime prevention unit/educational officer and reassign him to KO leaving Mt. Lebanon with one less police officer.
This means that Officer Mike Riemer is no longer an educational officer for our schools. It means that the only proactive unit in the police department is one person less. It means that the 300-400 classes that Officer Riemer taught to our students will have to go by the wayside because his partner will not be able to pick up the slack for that great amount of work. It means that the 15% decrease in bullying incidents reported by MMS will be sacrificed. It means that the 25% drop in juvenile arrests might be affected.
We urge you to attend the Commissioner's Meeting this Monday Night to speak to them about the many positive affects this position has in our schools and in our community. We also ask the you email your views to the commissioners or call them.
Be sure to think about the many programs at your school that will be cut because of the elimination of this position. No more "Stranger Danger" classes, no more "Safe Walking to School" programs, no more internet safety programs, no more bike rodeos, no more classes on the dangers and consequences of underage drinking, no more parent programs on sexual predators and how to keep your kids safe on the internet.
Blog-Lebo's earlier post on the topic is here.
The Commission's original decision was made in spite of a contrary recommendation by Mt. Lebanon's outgoing Chief of Police, Tom Ogden. Chief Ogden apparently cautioned initially that the officer to be assigned to KO would be pulled from traffic enforcement. It appears that plenty of people were unhappy with the Commission's decision even given that impact, but community mobilization against the KO decision was made more intense by information that the police department would re-assign an officer who had been working in Mt. Lebanon schools.
I do not know what Keystone Oaks officials, or KO students and families, think of the decision. Much as we all want to do what's best for our own children, I can't help but think that the decision not to assign a Mt. Lebanon police officer to KO does just a wee bit of harm to the broader concept of community. "KO wins, Lebo loses" -- and now the reverse -- is a zero-sum approach to public safety. Is there a win-win-win option waiting to be explored for KO, the Mt. Lebanon Police Department, and Lebo schools?
Labels: commission, keystone oaks high school, police
2 Comments:
Mike, you are so right. I still don't understand why the $60,000 Keystone Oaks worked so hard to find in their budget and offered to the municipality couldn't have been used to hire an additional officer for their school? We already know what an asset a Resource Officer is in Mt. Lebanon schools, and wish the same for KO (just not at the expense of current Mt. Lebanon services).
Kudos to Commissioner Miller for taking on this issue. The Commission made the original decision in haste, with limited reflection and worse yet - - without regard for the professional advice of staff or the rules.
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