Ferndale

District aims to upgrade security at Taft

By Jeremy Selweski
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by Edward Osinski Following the Dec. 8 shooting and attempted armed robbery in the parking lot of the Taft Education Center, 427 Allen Road, officials from Ferndale Public Schools are installing surveillance cameras at the facility and taking additional security measures. Photo by Edward Osinski Following the Dec. 8 shooting and attempted armed robbery in the parking lot of the Taft Education Center, 427 Allen Road, officials from Ferndale Public Schools are installing surveillance cameras at the facility and taking additional security measures.

FERNDALE — School officials are installing surveillance cameras and taking other measures to improve the safety of students and staff at the Taft Education Center in the wake of the shooting and attempted armed robbery that occurred in the school parking lot in December.

According to Gary Sophiea, director of operations for Ferndale Public Schools, the district is currently in the process of putting in the cameras at Taft, an alternative-education high school with about 350 students. Officials also reviewed with administrators and teachers the proper protocol during an emergency.

“We’ve always had a lot of security measures in place,” Sophiea said, “but we just wanted to reinforce with our staff what they need to be doing to help maintain the security of the school. We gave people a reminder that they need to be vigilant as part of their job.”

In addition, the district directed its site supervisors to be outside their building before and after school each day to monitor student activity and ensure that trouble does not arise.

“That’s always been a priority of ours, but now we’re making it an even bigger one,” Sophiea explained. “In general, our site supervisors are outside at those times anyway. Now we just want them to make sure they drop whatever else they’re doing to be our there.”

Stephanie Hall, director of community relations and pupil services for the district, said that school officials have also proposed adding another school resource officer to Ferndale Public Schools. The district currently has one officer in place at Ferndale High School, and the second officer would be used to monitor Taft and University High School.

The shooting at Taft — which is located at 427 Allen Road — occurred at around 2:53 p.m. on Dec. 8, just as school was getting out for the day. According to Ferndale police, the victim, a 20-year-old Taft student, was walking through the school parking lot when a young black male walked up to him, pointed a gun to his chest and demanded all of his belongings. The student refused and pushed the gun away from his chest. The suspect responded by shooting him in the leg and fleeing into the surrounding neighborhood. Officers searched the area, but were unable to locate the shooter.

Police also suggested that school officials place the entire district on lockdown as a safety precaution. The lockdown lasted for about two hours while Ferndale officers made sure that there was no danger to the community.

The victim was transported to a local hospital, where he underwent surgery for his wound. Police indicated at the time that he was expected to make a full recovery.

Since the shooting took place, Sophiea pointed out that Ferndale police have kept a close eye on Taft. “We have had a great relationship with Ferndale police for a while now,” he said. “They’ve been doing extra patrols for us 15 or 20 minutes before and after school every day.”

But as Detective Lt. Bill Wilson noted, the strong police presence at Taft is nothing new. “We were doing heavy patrols over there even before the shooting occurred because that has been an area of concern for us for a long time,” he said. “So nothing has really changed there. We still do the heavy patrols, and lately, we’ve been communicating with (district administration) about what they can do to increase safety and security at that school.”

Ferndale police recently arrested two people in connection with the Dec. 8 shooting, one of which, a 17-year-old Detroit man, they believed to be the gunman. However, after further investigation, both suspects were released because, as Wilson stated, there was “not yet enough evidence gathered, processed and organized to present the case to the (Oakland County) prosecutor.”

Still, school officials were grateful to see the amount of time and effort that Ferndale police have devoted to the case. “They have really done a great job on this,” Hall said. “We appreciate the skill and diligence of the Ferndale Police Department in working to find this person and in hopefully bringing closure to this case.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jeremy Selweski at jSelweski@candgnews.com or at (586)218-5004.