Slips of paper with students’ questions about drugs and police life fill the decorated shoeboxes in DARE Officer Mark Vail’s tiny office on the third floor of Chute Middle School. But if the Evanston City Council approves certain proposed budget cuts, Vail would no longer be available to answer those questions.
City Council is considering eliminating the Evanston Police Department school liaison program to save the city $197,400, said Cmdr. Michael Perry of EPD. The city has a deficit of almost $4 million and must make drastic cuts to balance the budget.
If the program is cut, the three officers stationed at Evanston/Skokie School District 65 middle schools will be reassigned to other beats so EPD can avoid hiring more patrol officers. Sixth-graders will no longer complete Drug Abuse Resistance Education, and police will go to schools only when there are problems.
“It’s just unfortunate that you have to put a dollar amount on children’s safety,” Vail said.
Three officers currently divide their time between the district’s five middle schools. They teach the DARE program, monitor the hallways and school grounds and patrol neighborhoods where many students live. These officers also make occasional visits to the elementary schools to make presentations about safety and disciplinary issues.
“It goes so much beyond teaching them in the classroom,” Vail said, taking a break from tossing a football in the snow with students after school. “They look at me as a father figure.”
Don Michelin, director of at-risk student services for D65, said the effect of cutting the program would ripple outside the schools to Evanston neighborhoods. The school liaison program allows children who might otherwise be suspicious of the police to form relationships with officers.
“This way (police officers) are not looked on as pigs,” Michelin said. “If the cut does take effect it’s a program that is going to be sorely missed.”
Other administrators agreed that while DARE teaches important lessons, the opportunity for students to have relationships with the officers is even more valuable.
“It’s a calmer, more secure atmosphere with Officer (John) Lindley here in the building,” said Richard Rochelle, assistant principal of Nichols Middle School, 800 Greenleaf St. “They know him as a person, not just a police officer. And he is able to diffuse discipline problems early because he knows the community.”
Perry agreed that the school liaison officers’ influence reaches into the community. But he said the department needs more officers on the streets and cannot afford to add more manpower to the department.
“It’s good to have a school resource officer, however when they are in the schools we don’t have them on the streets,” Perry said. “Our No. 1 priority is the community and the streets and we have to man that.”
EPD may also take a hit to its Police Social Services Bureau, which provides help for youth offenders and crime victims. The city has proposed eliminating two counseling employees to save $72,400.
One of the department’s three victim services advocates will be eliminated, as well as a part-time youth services advocate, leaving three full-time employees to handle the case load. Duties of victims advocates include informing people of a relative’s death, helping people file police reports and providing transportation to court. Youth services advocates help organize community service for juvenile offenders.
“They serve a big function,” Perry said.
If the cut occurs, employees will have to work overtime and some people probably will not be served.”Their services are very much in demand now and they all have full case loads,” said EPD Chief Frank Kaminski.
