Brecksville Police Receive Grant to Make Schools Safer

Brecksville City Council learned that the was awarded the Community Oriented Policing Services grant it applied for this spring during at .

The grant will be used to improve safety in the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District by helping to pay for some new security cameras and an easy-to-understand mapping system of all the buildings.

According to a press release from the Community Oriented Policing Services, the Secure our Schools grants help government organizations work with schools to make them safer, paying for half of crime-deterring equipment or for half of safety training or assessments. The program is part of the U.S. Department of Justice. This year, the program awarded more than $13 million in these grants to 93 agencies and cities. Brecksville’s grant is worth nearly $61,000.

Police Chief Richard E. Mannarino said the grant will go toward four projects:

• Installing security cameras at , , and schools and at the
• Refitting the locks at so the doors can be locked from the inside
• Assessing all of the district’s schools, with suggestions for short- and long-term improvements
• Creating a mapping system of all the schools

Mannarino said the mapping system was what drew the department to the overall project. Each building will be divided into zones and color-coded. The codes would make it easier for regional responders in the case of an emergency, said Mayor Jerry N. Hruby.

Mannarino said the zones will be posted in the schools, and the department, school personnel and students will be trained to use them. The maps will also note where all of the important areas are in a school, like the exits or the utilities.

The total project will cost about $124,000, Mannarino said. The grant covers about half of the project and the school district is responsible for the other half.