BY SASHEEN JOSEPH
The phrase, “If you see something, say something,” is heard by almost every administrator at CCHS. Going along with this motto, an announcement of a new club was made last year called the Student Crime Watch Program.
Fast-forwarding to this year, the first meeting of the club was canceled due to a lack of attendance, and the rescheduling of it is uncertain. While the fate of the club is left in the air, students and even some faculty are left in a state of doubt, along with many questions. However, one thing is certain about Student Crime Watch: it doesn’t have a bright future.
The root of this club can be traced back to March of last year with the enactment of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. A portion of the act pertains to a Crime Stoppers Trust Fund for programs such as the one trying to exist at CCHS.
“When I asked [the district], I got some mixed responses, but it’s optional. I don’t think it was ever considered mandatory,” Broward County School Board Member Lori Alhadeff said. “So the schools have a choice in whether to start the club or not.”
Out of all the schools in Broward County, there are only a few that host a program pertaining to crime watch. A majority of Broward County schools don’t offer the program or have any information related to it. This is a large contrast in comparison to the county of Miami-Dade.
While the fate of the club is left in the air, students and even some faculty are left in a state of doubt, along with many questions. However, one thing is certain about Student Crime Watch: it doesn’t have a bright future.
The county’s Youth Crime Watch program was established in 1979 and has been continuing for nearly 40 years in conjunction with the Citizens’ Crime Watch of Miami-Dade for grades K-12. Along with working with the Miami-Dade school police department, the program’s purpose is to prevent crime and violence in school environments.
Putting these two programs together highlights the fact that there is a large lack of information or continuity in Broward County’s Student Crime Watch Program. The icing on this unbaked cake is also the fact that there is specifically a lack of interest from the CCHS student body.
This is an obvious contributing factor for why the club is having a difficult time, considering the fact that it has yet to even have a meeting since the announcement of its existence. At CCHS, only a small percentage of the student population is actually involved in sports and extracurricular activities.
Therefore, considering the fact that students aren’t interested in investing time in the programs already held at the school, the Crime Watch Program doesn’t have a bright future ahead, since the days of “just say no to drugs” and the Students Taking Action and Responsibility program (STAR) are distant memories from years past.
Topics like this require student engagement and were stressed at a certain developmental stage where students are most impressionable, often in elementary school. Since then, students in high school have developed relationships with people they either trust or don’t trust due to their experiences.
“I think it will be more divisive than anything because it would pin kids against each other. How will they know [if] what students are saying is true, and will the accused students know who is accusing them?”
English teacher Briana Bullard
With this in mind, unclear guidelines for what the club’s purpose is has led students at CCHS to make their own assumptions. The most popular one being that the Student Crime Watch Program would require members to inform the club and/or advisor of anything illegal they witness or suspect at CCHS.
“I think it will be more divisive than anything because it would pin kids against each other,” English teacher Briana Bullard said. “How will they know [if] what students are saying is true, and will the accused students know who is accusing them?”
If this is the case and the club finds a way to take its first steps, Student Crime Watch and its members are not going to be accepted well. Not only will members of the club not be trusted or liked by their peers, but members of the said club can easily manipulate the power of the club for their own personal grievances, something every high school definitely doesn’t need.
Photo by Anabella Garcia
