PORTSMOUTH, Va. – School leaders in Portsmouth are seeking to add more than 150 security cameras in the city’s schools.
Currently around 200 cameras monitor the city’s six middle and high schools; however, no cameras are placed at the 14 elementary schools in the area. If the initiative is approved, it would cost around $100,000, and at least four of the elementary schools would receive exterior cameras.
Those schools would have cameras because they are considered to be in neighborhoods with high traffic.
The school board decided to add the cameras after a retreat last summer. Both police and school officials alike discussed security concerns, including gangs. At that time, schools were transitioning to digital video recorders from the VHS recording systems for security.
Recommendations were made by a Portsmouth police officer and two school maintenance employees to add more surveillance during regular working hours. From that, school officials determined more cameras would help solve more problems on campuses.
Around 460 student discipline hearings have occurred during the school year, according to school administrator Kevin Brown per the Associated Press. Roughly 110 of those cases were serious enough to be presented to the school board, which resulted in 89 long-term suspensions and 16 expulsions.
