Board of Education Approves Campus Safety Program

The Beverly Hills Unified School District Board of Education approved an innovative safety and mental health campus safety program that will be implemented at all five public schools when students return from winter break in January 2014.

"Today's unfortunate reality is that we need to take a strong stance against the increasing violence occurring on school campuses," said Jake Manaster, former president of the Board of Education.

The new safety program includes six campus safety officers (CSOs), employed by Evidence‐Based Inc., in Irvine, California. All six CSOs have extensive training, either with law enforcement or the military, and will work directly with the school site administrators and police to identify and assess threats, prevent violence from occurring, and respond quickly and decisively if and when incidents occur.

"The safety of our schools is the priority for getting this done," Manaster said. "EBI's program not only provides uniquely experienced campus security officers on our campuses ‐‐ including one of our own in 32‐year Beverly Hills Police Department veteran Joe Chirillo who will be overseeing this program ‐‐ it is roughly half the cost of our old program. In these days of tight budgets, the opportunity to ensure that this high level of experience is covering our campuses at a reduced rate, was simply too good to pass up."

The new program collaborates with schools and law enforcement agencies in creating and implementing comprehensive campus‐safety plans. In addition, it provides onsite, specially trained safety officers to augment schools’ existing safety personnel, as well as mental health resources and other services.

"We applaud the BHUSD Board of Education for taking this bold step to prevent violence in their classrooms and campuses," said John McLaughlin, a former Southern California police officer who is EBI’s president and CEO. McLaughlin also holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Southern California.

“Although the new school year is just a few months old, incidents locally, regionally and nationally prove that we don’t have the luxury of sitting on our hands," he added. "As a society, we need to take strong, decisive action that addresses security on school campuses as well as the growing need to provide mental health services to troubled youth, and the Beverly Hills Unified School District has done just that.”

Evidence‐Based Incorporated is comprised of expert managers in the fields of school policing, training, gang and narcotics enforcement, and tactical response situations. After serving as a police officer for nearly 15 years, McLaughlin founded EBI in 2003.

Through EBI, the campus safety program seamlessly draws upon the resources of an in‐house investigative response team when threats require additional follow‐up in order to determine if additional law enforcement intervention is required. Campus safety officers are extensively trained in responding to all types of crisis situations that can occur on school campuses, working closely with local law enforcement agencies as well as schools’ staff members.