Just try getting past these guys near campus

By Emily Richmond

Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008 | 2 a.m.

There were three motorcycle officers, a police cruiser, a pair of crossing guards toting red stop signs, and flashing school zone warning lights, all drawing attention to the school crossing near Mendoza Elementary.

But Metro Police Officer Dave Corbin predicted it wouldn’t be enough to alert every distracted driver traveling the intersection of Sloan Lane and Ballinger Drive.

“Those signs are 2 feet tall, elevated and hung in the middle of the lanes,” said Corbin, straddling his motorcycle while another officer aimed a radar gun at passing cars. “The signs say, ‘Look at me, look at me — I’m flashing.’ But people will still tell us they had no idea it was a school zone when we pull them over.”

The 2007 Legislature helped expand policing on streets adjacent to campuses when it granted School Police authority to issue traffic citations off campus. Previously, only Metro officers could cite motorists on roads near schools. Police can’t stop every driver, but the increased visibility of officers writing tickets serves as a powerful deterrent, one Corbin says he hopes drivers remember next week when students return to school.

“This gives us more bodies to do the job,” he said. “If School Police are writing tickets, it frees us up to respond to an accident on the freeway or another situation.”

During the 2007-08 academic year, School Police wrote 770 traffic citations, more than double the 340 handed out in the prior school year.

In the first 19 minutes of an exercise Tuesday intended to remind motorists that the new academic year begins next week, Metro and Clark County School District police added eight more citations to the tally.

A woman driving a red Chevy Blazer, holding a cell phone to her ear, appeared puzzled about why she had been pulled over. As the Blazer slowed for an officer, a grey sedan traveling behind it quickly switched lanes to speed past. A second motorcycle officer set off in pursuit.

Such incidents are the reason Corbin and his fellow officers welcome the expanded authority for School Police.

Ignoring traffic laws near schools can be expensive. Fines double to $180 in a school zone, with extra penalties for excessive speed. The county’s traffic citation revenue is part of a larger pot that is shared among schools, but the district doesn’t directly benefit when its officers write tickets.

Though enforcement is necessary, the officers said, the responsibility for safety around schools falls on parents and students as well.

“Kids shouldn’t jaywalk, and parents shouldn’t triple-park when they drop off or pick up” children from school, said Claretha King, a Metro crossing guard supervisor. “When children walk by themselves, they emulate what their parents do.”

To ease traffic congestion around schools in the mornings and afternoons, parents should park a block or two away from campus and walk the rest of the way, said Darnell Couthen, a School Police spokesman.

“Use the time to talk with your children about safety,” he said.

Carla Arango and Jennifer Perez, both of whom will be in fourth grade at Mendoza when classes start Monday, know the rules and follow them.

“Look left and right before you cross the street,” Jennifer said. “Hold hands with someone.”

At school crossings, “get off your bike or whatever you’re riding and wait for the crossing guard,” Carla said. “Don’t go until they say it’s OK.”

Jennifer and her twin sister, Kimberly, will walk to school this year with a younger sister, who is starting kindergarten, and a cousin who will be in the first grade. Their mother, Antonia Perez, alternates chaperone duties with a neighbor. It’s only a few blocks, but Perez said she feels better knowing there’s an adult supervising along the way.

“I’ve got only my kids in my life,” Perez said. “They are everything to me.”

Metro provides crossing guards at 147 elementary schools, but doesn’t have the staff or funding to provide them at middle schools. Henderson and North Las Vegas police also provide crossing guards for younger students, but not at all middle schools.

That’s a source of frustration for many, said Carolyn Edwards, a School Board member. Children who completed fifth grade in June, and had help crossing major intersections, are now in sixth grade and largely fend for themselves on the way to and from school. A two-month summer vacation hasn’t made them more aware of traffic safety, or more visible to harried drivers, Edwards said.

“I would love it if every middle school had a crossing guard,” Edwards said. “But I understand there’s a serious budget crisis going on, and Metro is no exception.”