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Veteran officer takes reins as school chief
By DEBORAH HIRSCH ST. PETERSBURG -- A new person is responsible for the safety of the 115,000 students in Pinellas public schools, everyone from the kindergartener at nap time to the varsity athlete in the locker room. Thomas Gavin, 51, the new chief of campus police, started the job on April 1 and is paid $55,000 a year. He took over from Joe Feraca, who retired Dec. 31. Gavin had previously worked 26 years as an officer for the St. Petersburg Police Department and also consulted for the State Department's Juvenile Justice Advisory Team to the government of the Czech Republic. While students may not find him patrolling the hallways, they will see his work carried out by their school resource officers. He is in charge of safety procedures -- everything from severe weather situations to threats of violence -- at all 143 public schools. Gavin is already immersed in meetings with district officials. He is not directly in charge of the officers themselves, who report to their respective police departments. But he will work with them in reviewing and implementing safety programs he has drawn up. He does directly supervise the 28 campus police technicians, officers and investigators who manage some of the electronic and live security monitoring at schools. He also is responsible for a unit of police dogs that sniff school hallways for drugs or bombs. "The kinds of things we're doing is critical in a district of this size," said Ron Stone, associate superintendent. "It's almost essential that we have someone to coordinate all of those efforts." Gavin was selected out of about 30 candidates to take over for former chief Feraca. Gavin's experience with both law enforcement and education made him a good choice for the job, said Walter Miller, associate superintendent for institutional services. "We want to be sure that we have good staff development, good training and safe learning environments, and (Gavin) will be key to all of that," Miller said. At least one full-time school resource officer staffs each of the 16 public high schools in Pinellas county. A federal grant helps pay for an extra Pinellas county sheriff's deputy at Dixie Hollins, Boca Ciega, Dunedin, East Lake, Osceola, Palm Harbor University, Seminole and Tarpon Springs. High schools under contract with the St. Petersburg police, including St. Petersburg, Lakewood, Gibbs and Northeast, do not have the same federal grant. The School Board and city of St. Petersburg split the cost of the salary and benefits for each officer. Most safety issues within schools parallel problems the community faces, like violence, drugs and thefts, Gavin said. "When one single child is victimized then we have to do better and we're striving all the time," he said. Gavin said live officers provide the best security, but campus police workers also aid some schools with video surveillance. "It's a multifaceted approach," he said. "We all work together. I like the idea of taking police officers and training them to go into schools and be effective. I'm particularly optimistic that we have the skill set in this county to do what we can to make our schools safer."
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