Philadelphia Police Department student safety plan to focus on routes to and from schools

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — With classes starting on Monday for students in the city's school district, the Police Department is finalizing its strategy to keep students safe.

Commissioner Kevin Bethel, speaking Thursday at police headquarters, said officers will be deployed along routes to and from schools.

"We have a strong safety plan in place where we'll be enhancing our men and women around our safety corridors. They've been walking through that work with our district captains and commanders over this past week," Bethel said.

The commissioner says officers are paying special attention to the routes where students from rival schools may converge.

"We'll be very focused on our corridors as a result of the shootings that we had at Imhotep and others . We'll be working effectively around our schools to make sure that we are providing a safe passage for them."

Bethel said commanders are reviewing data to be sure officers are deployed in the right place at the right time.

The school district also has a safety plan, replacing many of its analog security cameras with digital technology.

And SEPTA is adding officers to its virtual patrol unit, to do live "look ins" on buses as students ride.

On March 4, Imhotep Institute Charter High School student Dayemen Taylor was shot and killed as he boarded a SEPTA Route 6 bus in Ogontz. Two days later, eight students were shot while waiting at a bus stop in Northeast Philadelphia.