INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS
EYES WIDE OPEN SCHOOL BUS OPERATORS RELY ON CAMERAS, LOCAL PARTNERS
TO PROTECT FLEETS FROM SECURITY THREATS WRITTEN BY michelle fisher
case drew headlines because the buses were missing for several weeks, causing speculation about whether they had been shipped overseas or had fallen into terrorist hands. Gainesville police found six of the missing buses on
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the property of 95 South Tours and Transportation. Te company owner had allegedly used them for shuttling fans to the Georgia-Florida college football game on Nov. 2. When the Jacksonville Sheriff ’s Office received a tip, deputies immediately contacted the Gainesville Police Department. Student transportation officials agree that communi-
cation and watchfulness go a long way toward prevent- ing crimes like theft and vandalism, which cost school districts and bus contractors thousands each year. For the transportation department of Alachua County
(Fla.) Public Schools, whose two buses were among those discovered in Gainesville, this theft was a wake-up call to add another level of security to its bus lots. Te district promptly installed security camera systems in all five of its bus compounds. “We have cameras on all compounds to watch the places where buses come in and leave,” said David Dees,
16 School Transportation News January 2014
fter half a dozen yellow buses were stolen from school districts in Florida and Georgia, area law enforcement teamed up and recov- ered all the vehicles in early November. Te
assistant transportation director at Alachua County. “We were thinking about doing it prior to the theft. Once that happened, we went ahead and installed them.” Shop Manager Joe Lovell said thieves hotwired and stole the two buses at the same time. In his 31 years at the school district, this is just the second time a bus compound has been breached. Each lot is well lit and surrounded by a high, chain-link fence. “Te new cameras have increased the level of security.
We also increased the chain size and lock size on every gate, two to three per compound,” Lovell said, explaining that the thieves tried to cut the chain on the west side but failed, so they went to the east side. “We thought we were doing everything right,” he
added.
COLLABORATING WITH POLICE Donald Wilkes, director of transportation at the Los
Angeles Unified School District, said regular patrols by school and local police officers have helped curb a recent uptick in theft and vandalism on their lots, especially at the downtown location. Currently the district operates 1,700 school buses and owns 1,300 of them. “School police actually had to set up stings on the bus lots lasting 24 hours to really target the thieves,” said Wilkes, who has been transportation chief since 2011.
Los Angeles Unified works with school police to set up stings in bus yards to catch thieves.
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