NYPD orders school safety agents not to use police frequency on radios
New York City NY Jan 16 2023
NY1 has learned that the NYPD is reversing course on how school safety agents communicate with police officers.
At the beginning of the school year, the education and police departments outlined enhanced safety measures after the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas.
Initially, all school safety agents were given new radios with an NYPD frequency so they could talk directly with officers if there was an emergency.
Agents could also hear on the NYPD radios what was going on in neighborhoods around their schools.
But now the police department has ordered school safety agents not to use the police frequency, but rather the Education Department’s radio frequency for their schools.
“At least one agent per school is designated to stay on the NYPD frequency where they will have the ability to request immediate assistance from patrol officers during an emergency,” the NYPD said in a statement. “The other agents assigned to the school will remain on the Department of Education frequency in order to maintain contact with DOE staffers inside the school.”
The police and education departments did not explain the reason for the the change, but the union for school principals was not happy with the initial move to police radios and has pushed for the change back since the beginning of the school year.
“We began raising safety concerns when we first learned of the change in radio communication policy between school safety agents and administrators,” Henry Rubio, the executive vice president for the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, said in a statement.
“While we understand the intention was to improve citywide communications and believe that is important, many principals shared that the policy shift prevented clear and timely communication on school specific matters. It is critical that school personnel and safety agents communicate and coordinate quickly during situations that pose danger to students and staff. We applaud Chancellor Banks and the NYPD for listening to the voice of school administrators and adjusting the policy, and we look forward to our continued collaboration to keep schools safe.”
