The City of Mobile is expanding its Safe Passage program, an initiative that places police officers, firefighters, public safety workers and community volunteers along the routes students walk home after school lets out.
The program is currently active at several campuses, including Williamson Preparatory. City officials say the presence of familiar faces along student walking routes has already changed how students interact with public safety workers.
“We started the program and started the pilot. Initially they were like, ‘who are you guys?’ But eventually they came to a point of saying, ‘hey, where were you yesterday?’” said Curtis Graves, the city’s public safety director.
Officials say the goal isn’t to police students, but to provide a steady, visible presence that helps prevent conflicts before they start. “Just 30 minutes out of the month. If you are consistent with that, they’ll see 30 minutes out of the month and know that you care,” Graves said.
Mobile Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis said the program also gives students another outlet when conflicts do arise. “For these fights that happened in the past, the whole school campus, you know, maybe they’ll come to us so that we can help them understand how to resolve conflict without violence,” he said.
Williamson Principal Tammy George said the school has already seen fewer incidents since the program launched. “Our students are responding to community resources as well as just helping them make better choices, not only inside the building during the school day, but as well as when they leave us and go into the community,” George said.
City leaders say they hope to eventually extend that same sense of community well beyond school grounds. “What I would love to see is that for every one of these kids leaving here, as they walk down any street on their way home, they would see neighbors sitting on their front porch,” Cheriogotis said.