School police get more clout to control traffic
Melissa Obecunas didn’t give a second thought earlier this month to parking illegally outside Hewetson Elementary School.
But Obecunas, one of about a dozen parking scofflaws picking up their kids, said the threat of a ticket would curtail her practice.
"That would probably stop me," Obecunas said while waiting for her second-grade daughter to get out of school. "I’d have to leave much earlier to get a parking space."
Beginning today, Obecunas and other drivers will have to watch their road habits more carefully in school zones. A new state law has given Clark County School District police added authority to enforce laws on roads on school property or adjacent to school property.
Before the new law, those responsibilities were mostly handled by North Las Vegas, Las Vegas and Henderson police officers. District police would give out tickets when the public’s safety was seriously threatened, such as in instances of reckless driving, causing or leaving the scene of an accident, and driving under the influence.
District police officials also said that in the past they would generally give out warnings for less serious infractions such as blocking a crosswalk or double parking.
Lt. Ken Young, a spokesman with the district police, said his officers will now enforce road laws during school hours and during after-school functions such as sporting events.
Young said although district officers will have more leeway in ticketing drivers, district police will not be getting heavy-handed with citations.
"There really won’t be a lot of noticeable differences," Young said. "We’ll probably issue fewer warnings."
But not right away, according to District Police Chief Hector Garcia. He said his officers will continue to give out warnings for traffic violators well into the upcoming school year.
Garcia said officers will take a three-step approach to handling their new duties.
The first step will be an education campaign for the public. Garcia said this will be done by having police officials speak with school officials and at community meetings. His officers’ new duties will also be printed in the back-to-school flier mailed to parents, Garcia said.
In the second step, officers will continue to give parents warnings unless the violation is flagrant.
Garcia said the third step will be to give out tickets.
"That’s the final piece," Garcia said. "If needed, people will be cited."
Police will soon be able to ticket drivers for such infractions as double parking and blocking crosswalks or driving through crosswalks when students are passing through the designated areas.
Phil Gervasi, president of the district’s Police Officers Association, said elementary schools generally have bad traffic problems before and after school.
"It boils down to parents being impatient dropping and picking up their children," Gervasi said.
"That leads to speeding, rushing their children across the street without using a crosswalk, double and triple parking. … A lot of parents don’t realize that their children were observing their bad behavior."
Several parents at Hewetson recently said the parking lot at the school is too small, and most of the time parents don’t have much choice but to park illegally. That complaint is echoed by many parents throughout the district.
Gervasi said the problems differ at the middle and high schools. Middle school children sometimes tend to ignore the rules of the road and endanger themselves, while high school students tend to speed to and from school.
During the school year, there is normally four to five fender benders at high schools per week, Gervasi said.
During the 2005-06 school year, two middle school students were killed while crossing the street. The deaths in part prompted the district to sponsor the bill to give school police more enforcement power, said Craig Kadlub, a lobbyist for the district.
Kadlub said the district would not generate any revenue from tickets handed to drivers.
During the 2005-06 school year, Garcia said, 33 students were hit by vehicles walking to and from school. This past school year, however, only six children were hit by cars and there were no fatalities.
Garcia said he attributes the decrease in accidents to the public being aware of the problems caused by both students and drivers near schools.
Young said despite the officers’ new abilities to enforce road laws, there won’t be a stepped up enforcement in terms of numbers of officers who patrol the roads near schools.
Scott Konnath, a PTA member at Goynes Elementary School in North Las Vegas, said he hopes the new law will boost safety.
"Kids think they’re invincible. They step right in front of cars without looking," said Konnath, who has sons in the second and seventh grades.
"Some parents are inconsiderate. They just want to get their kids in schools and don’t care about anything else."
