VENTURA COUNTY ROUNDUP : VENTURA : Schools Adding 6 to Campus Police Force

The Ventura Unified School District police force is being expanded from two to eight officers, in part to address the desire for increased security in the wake of violent incidents elsewhere in the nation.

The six full-time officers will begin patrolling when classes begin Thursday.

The officers, employed by the Ventura Police Department, are part of the new School Safety Program--revised over the summer to beef up security on the district’s 28 campuses, including elementary, middle and high schools.

The program is the most aggressive school safety plan created to date, said Assistant Police Chief Pat Miller.

“I think every survey, every study, every poll taken in the last six months shows the presence of officers does enhance safety,” Miller said. “We want to offer that reassurance to people.”

The shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in April triggered a wave of false bomb threats and rumors of violence on campuses in Ventura County.

“Obviously, a major concern is safety on our campuses,” Miller said. “And we would have been derelict in our duties not to do something proactively and in response to some of the things that happened.”

Last year, two full-time school resource officers were assigned to Buena and Ventura high schools. This year, with the aid of the additional personnel, the officers will rotate among all campuses.

“Obviously we can’t be everywhere all the time,” Miller said. “But with the cooperation we have with the school district, we can create a certain environment that will have a significant impact.”

The new plan calls for beat officers to roam the school areas before and after the start of classes and in the evenings. Officers will also be required to know about problems occurring in and around the schools, authorities said.

Emergency response plans have also been updated for each campus, with step-by-step guidelines for how officers should respond to a variety of school disasters.