Chattanooga Officers Volunteer Safety Training For Head Start
April 10, 2008
The officers of IBPO Local 673 in Chattanooga, Tennessee have offered to partner with Head Start to improve security for area locations of the pre-school program.
The Chattanooga officers chose Head Start as their community service partner, said Local 673 President Sgt. Julie Dean, because of recent national news reports about divorced parents taking non-custodial children from schools. The news reports spurred a conversation about program security at a recent local Head Start board meeting.
“You have so many domestic problems going on, so many kids getting snatched, you get to the point where you just get so comfortable with your surroundings that you think it’s never going to happen to you,” Sgt. Dean told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Although local public schools plan security as part of their budgets, Sgt. Dean said her members recognized that the area’s Head Start programs didn’t have sufficient funding or support for similar preparations. Local 673 officers are planning to teach Head Start staff how to keep their buildings secure, how to create and manage visitor logs, and how to screen and question visitors to ensure child safety.
Sgt. Dean said the partnership will be a win-win for both the Chattanooga officers and the region’s Head Start programs. “It’s cost-efficient for us to share our expertise, and it’ll help a great program that never gets enough kudos for the wonderful work they do.” Local 673 is also looking into the possibility of donating security equipment.