KTLA News: "Councilman Tom Bradley discusses school violence" (1972)

I haven't seen the mayor's proposal so I cannot tell you I I don't know that he has made these recommendations I know that he has not taken the action to call together these various resources that I have suggested in an ad hoc committee I tried this five years ago to get a team approach to solving our problems and the council was not willing to go along with it I think that no we see the problem is getting out of hand and I think we simply must come to this point of bringing all of these groups together we can't deal with it as probation of going one way please depriving another they've all got to work together if they're going to solve this problem there's got to be that communications earth in the principal's office or in the main office of the building someone is on duty to observe that board to determine where the help is needed and will quickly dispatch the help to that location and ideally if there is a communication system in the school a two-way system they can determine if they need help police or anything else I mean a quick response of some adult teacher or security officer that's on the campus or whatever personnel would be responding in those circumstances does not mean as a matter of fact the main value of it is that in most cases where it's been used they found that it avoided the necessity of calling in the police from outside because they were able to control it if it gets out of hand then of course the only only response has to be the police and they're trying to avoid that that is the primary purpose of the system what is happening in our schools and person the street should be dealt with what about your six is there anything that will enhance yes a part of the program of the ad hoc committee the fact that it involves the resources all of the forces in our community that deal with this very question one of the major factors in that is of course the training and effective Employment Program to take these youngsters from a life of idleness into a life of constructive or productive activity and I think we cannot separate these two for all authorities the adult authority the probation and the juvenile court judges not having had the kind of direct link and communications with the law enforcement agencies that are putting the young people in custody and I must say that our Chief of Police has already begun to initiate that kind of dialogue I all need to understand what happens when you release a hardcore offender to go back into the streets only to commit the same kinds of crimes again and that is what they are attempting to deal with and I believe that through the system of the ad hoc committee will be able to more effectively deal with that whole question councilman how does this unit work this emergency communications system developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena has this device as an activator it sends a signal from wherever the teacher or the school personnel may be located to the principal's office and there is a panel in that office similar to this but with many more room numbers on it and all the teacher need do if there is some incident impending is depressed this this button and it will set off a signal then what would happen at that point as the board is lighted up the principal or whoever's own on duty at that point would quickly send someone to the location where that signal is coming from by the room 101 or 110 or it might be out on the grounds and that person or persons responding to that emergency call could then take appropriate action very often that they found that it's simply a matter of the presence of the teachers there that can prevent the thing from getting out of hand prevent they need to call the police in a to deal with the problem that's a primary function of this kind of system how does this tie in with your six point program to prevent violence on their schools it's one of the six points and I think that since it has been developed it cost $15,000 to instruct to install the system I think that we could very well consider installing that in a number of schools in this city it has been installed in some schools in California and in New York and Georgia I believe that in addition to that the ad hoc committee which I have proposed ought to be activated quickly bringing together the police department the probation department that courts the human relations agencies all of those groups along with the school administration the teachers and the students can effectively put together a program instead of each going their separate way I believe that that's possible being funded through the California Council on criminal justice through the safe streets Act thirdly my proposal for communities since patrol is an idea that I think can work in the schools as well as in the community to serve as the eyes and ears of the police department to help them control the crime problem in their neighborhoods and I'm anxious to have the police department move forward on it the Police Commission is now considering that proposal I want to have our congressional delegation assist either in introducing or in supporting a bill called the Safe Schools Act such as one introduced by congressman Bingham that would use this system would use other personnel community people to help in controlling the problems in our schools I believe that it's necessary for us to find the funding outside of our own budgetary needs and I think that we can find those means agency and if necessary they can take action or perhaps call the police in most cases they have found that just by the presence of the teachers coming to that location they've been able to avoid an escalation of a problem that's the primary benefit of this kind of program they have and it's been very well accepted by the students they know that the system is in