APSPD handles the following conditions which should be reported to the School Police Office at 243-7712. Questions of a security nature can also be directed to this number. In emergency situations call the School Police Office at 243-4471, or call 911 if located in an outlying area.

1. Actual or suspected criminal activity, i.e. burglary, vandalism, assault, drugs, thefts, disorderly conduct, etc.
2. Actual or suspected employee criminal misconduct.

If appropriate, students who are reported missing during school hours.

Any student who has been suspended and told to stay off campus, but does not do so, may be in violation of City ordinances and/or state statutes pertaining to criminal trespass. If a student persists, call the School Police Office and ask for assistance with this problem or problems with outsiders.

School Police officers are certified and commissioned law enforcement officers with comparable police authority to the Albuquerque Police Department’s officers and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department’s deputies. As such, they have the authority to make arrests. With this authority comes constitutional and statutory responsibilities and limitations. The decision to arrest lies solely with the officer who will or will not make the arrest based upon the facts known to the officer at the time. Generally, a police officer cannot arrest for a violation of a misdemeanor which does not occur in his/her presence.

Principal advises the School Police Office if employee or student walkout or slowdown is imminent.

The appropriate Assistant Superintendent will notify the School Police Office immediately in the event of a system-wide emergency or an emergency at a particular location.

Report all other violations of law to the School Police Office as soon as possible.

APSPD will, at no additional expense to the requesting facility:

1. Furnish officers for protection of Board of Education property and APS personnel, and will assist the principals with daytime security of students.
2. APS School Police officers also furnish security for specified athletic events.

APSPD will also furnish officers for all types of extra curricular activities, provided that the school or schools involved reimburse the School Police Office for overtime for personnel.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Fill out the standard building usage form (AC-11) indicating the need for a number of school police officers to furnish security at a specified school event.
2. Forward the form to the Accounting Office ten days prior to date activity will take place.
3. The individual school will be expected to pay for the school police officers at the rate of time and one half their regular salary. This rate will vary according to which officer is available for the assignment. (Call the School Police Department for an estimated cost prior to the event).
4. If the activity will draw a high concentration of students, a minimum of two school police officers will be required (e.g., dances, plays, and music festivals).
5. If the activity runs beyond the amount of time requested of the school police officers, the officer will request the "contract form" be amended and approved by the person in charge of the activity.

Adherence to the following procedures will greatly minimize the chance of kidnapping, molesting, or releasing a student to unauthorized persons. It is the responsibility of the principal to acquaint the staff with the provisions of this procedure.

Before releasing a student to anyone except his/her parent or guardian during a school day, obtain permission from the parent or guardian by telephone.

When a parent or guardian telephones a request that a child be released early from school, confirm the identity of the caller by hanging up and calling the person back and asking the student to confirm the voice as being that of the parent or guardian or a person authorized to have custody of the student. In the event the telephone call is not being made from the student's home, question the caller in order to obtain information such as the student's date of birth, his/her course offerings, or names of teachers and classmates, all of which should be known by an authorized parent or guardian. In custody disputes, court orders are frequently presented as proof of guardianship. Be cautioned that the document presented may have been superseded by a more current court order or, as in the case of out of state documents, may not be valid within this jurisdiction.

The principal or his/her designee should be satisfied that the release of the student has the approval of at least one parent or guardian. If there is any doubt do not release the student.

The School Police Office can be called upon for assistance and support in this matter and can conduct field checks to ascertain whether or not a release is legitimate.

Stolen property must be reported to APSPD immediately. APSPD will initiate an Offense/Incident report and will investigate the incident based upon available information. Information may be forwarded to other law enforcement agencies to enhance the possibility of recovering the stolen property.

APSPD will forward a copy of the completed investigation to the Controller: Building Fund & Fixed Assets, Finance Department for action regarding inventory control and replacement of stolen property.

The School Police will forward copies of reports to site administrators as they are processed. If additional copies and/or copies of reports are required request must be made through the following procedures:

1. Call in the request to APSPD as soon as you identify the need for a report copy.
2. If time is a factor the School Police will FAX a copy of the report.
3. Do not disseminate copies of reports to parents. Parents should request copies directly from the School Police Department.
4. Some reports are not available to the site administrator because of School Board, State and Federal guidelines.

The school Police operates and maintains the District’s Intrusion Alarm System. The system is active after business hours, on weekends and holidays. Entry into APS facilities after business hours will result in an intrusion alarm being generated at the School Police Dispatch Center. If the Dispatch Center does not have a phone call logged from an authorized person to be in the area from which the alarm was received, a law enforcement officer will be dispatched to check the building. The ensure the protection of staff and property each site administrator must furnish a list of people authorized to access their facility after hours through the following procedure:

1. A list must be mailed or faxed to the School Police Communications Section Supervisor listing everyone authorized to access the facility After hours.
2. The list must include: employee name, employee number and areas of the facility for which access is authorized.
3. If access is requested for non-employees (i.e. contractors, church groups, scouts, etc.), the information required is: name of person in charge who will be present at the site and their social security number, name of organization and areas of facility for which access is authorized.

To access APS facilities after hours, authorized personnel must call the School Police Dispatch Center before arrival if possible and if not, then immediately upon arrival and entry into the facility and follow the call-in procedure:

1. The authorized personnel must give their employee number or social security number and location they are entering.
2. The dispatcher will verify authorization at this time.
3. The authorized personnel must give their arrival and departure time and specific areas they will be in.
4. Upon leaving and/or if the actual departure time changes, the authorized personnel must call the School Police to check out or modify the departure time.

The School Police will provide photo I.D. badges to non-site based employees who routinely visit school campuses in the performance of their duties. Eligible employees may request a badge through the following procedure:

1. Requests for photo I.D. badges must be made through an employee’s site administrator or department head.
2. The following information must be supplied for each badge: employee full name, employee number, social security number, date of birth, APS location assigned to, and job title.
3. Upon receipt of the request and documentation the School Police will contact the employee and set up an appointment to process the I.D.
4. The School Police will not produce photo I.D.’s without the required authorization and an appointment.

The school staff should be alerted to challenge suspicious persons who loiter in and around the school building. If there is no logical explanation for their presence, notify the School Police Office immediately.

1. Obtain a description and identity of such unauthorized persons.
2. Obtain mode of travel if possible
3. Furnish this information to the School Police Office as soon as possible.

When it appears that someone is using or occupying school property contrary to its intended use, the principal or his/her designee will:

1. Determine the nature of the business;
2. Inform the person that he/she is interfering with the educational process and ask the person to leave;
3. Call the School Police Office if he/she refuses to leave.

APS furnishes sites on school grounds for mobile homes owned and occupied by police officers of local law enforcement agencies. The purpose of the program is to provide a deterrent to criminal activity on school grounds and also to provide a police officer who, if needed, can be called on to assist in School Police matters at the school.

Cross Ref.: Board Policy E.01

Visitors to Schools directive

Child Custody Issues directive

Reporting Child Abuse or Neglect, or Educational Neglect directive

NSBA/NEPN Classification: ECAE

Revised: May 1995

Revised: April 1996

Revised: May 1997