SAN ANTONIO – All Southside Independent School District campuses have a new installation that aims to heighten security measures.
Before parents, guardians or visitors can even reach the front door of the school, they’ll have to first be cleared by Southside ISD police officers at new guard shacks.
According to Southside ISD Chief of Police, Don Tijerina, the guard shacks are now school’s first line of defense.
“Police officers will ask for some form of identification,” Tijerina said. “Their first role will be to run the person’s identification through a software system. That system identifies potential sex offenders. If it’s a yes, then there’s certain alerts that go out to the police department.”
Safety and security are the primary purpose for the guard shacks, but they will also help the police department with logistics in case of an incident on-campus.
“We want to know who’s on campus in case we have to evacuate. We need to get a head count and have identification for everybody,” Tijerina said.
The Southside ISD Police Department has also amped up their security to serve the schools 24/7.
According to the school district’s executive director of operations Henry Izaguirre, police officers will also help control and direct traffic during peak hours. To ease the burden, check-ins at guard shacks will not be required during those times.
“If you’re dropping off a student in the mornings, it will be a little bit more relaxed because we have so many people. It’s impossible for us to stop every parent,” Izaguirre said.
To contact the Southside ISD Police Department, click here.