The Quebec Unit, established in 1992, has 21 officers assigned to middle and high schools throughout the district, and one sergeant.
Springfield Superintendent of Schools Alan IngramSPRINGFIELD – School Superintendent Alan J. Ingram Wednesday dismissed a new study detailing high rates of arrests in city schools as misleading and inaccurate.
Ingram said the study by the Massachusetts chapter of American Civil Liberties Union and the Boston-based Citizens for Juvenile Justice mischaracterized the district’s approach to school discipline.
“The report attempts to paint a picture of an overaggressive, unorganized approach to school-based policing in our district and nothing could be further from the truth,” Ingram said in a prepared statement.
“While we are not willing to let the actions of a few disrupt the educational opportunity for others, there is a clear delineation between classroom management and school-based policing and it is fully understood by both school and police officials.”
The study found school arrest rates in Springfield were three times higher than in Boston and five times higher than in Worcester during the 2007-2008 2009-2010 academic years.
The majority of the 461 arrests were for disruptive but non-violent behavior, rather than weapons, drugs or assaults, according to the study, which called for a less aggressive approach to student misconduct.
Ingram said the report falsely asserts that the school-based policing unit, also known as the Quebec Unit, regularly arrests students for such innocuous reasons as displaying a bad attitude. “Arrest is resorted to as a final and last alternative and only for offenses that rise to the criminal level as defined” by state law, Ingram said.
He said having officers assigned to schools does not lead to excessive arrests, as the report suggests, adding that the overall arrest rate has been dropping.
The Quebec Unit, established in 1992, has 21 officers assigned to middle and high schools throughout the district, and one sergeant.
He also said that nearly all of the $1.6 million increase in this year’s school security budget was for the installation of additional security measures such as camera systems, hand-held wands and metal detectors in schools.