Command Center to Increase Detroit School Safety

DETROIT (AP) - Security in Detroit's public schools will get a boost this year when the district opens a new police headquarters that will serve as a high-tech hub for surveillance, district officials said Friday.

Several cameras and alarm systems will be placed in each school as part of the $5.6 million project, which is part of a nearly $42 million initiative to increase safety in Detroit schools.

After it opens in December, the center will receive a signal if a school alarm is triggered, and officers will be able to immediately view the video from that building, Chief Roderick Grimes said.

"Ideally, school buildings should be the safest place for our students," said Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb, who was appointed by the governor in 2008 to fix the struggling district's finances.

He said the new office is designed to greatly enhance student safety "by improving our officers' ability to monitor and secure buildings, respond quickly in the case of an emergency and investigate incidents."

The district has spent the past year trying to transform its public safety department from one resembling a security force "to one that supports modern-day law enforcement," Inspector General John Bell said. Construction of the new center, which will replace a smaller facility, is expected to begin this month on the site where two schools were demolished.

A string of shootings and the perception of crime has caused some parents to flee the 87,000-student district for charter, suburban or private schools.

A student was fatally shot and three others were wounded not far from Henry Ford High School in October 2008. The victims' parents filed a lawsuit this year against the district that claimed Henry Ford officials failed to prevent the attack, which followed a fight inside the building earlier that day.

In February 2009, a former Central High School student was shot on the second floor of the school near the end of the school day. A few months later, seven teenagers -- including five students at Cody Ninth Grade Academy -- were shot and wounded while waiting at a bus stop near that school.