School Neighbors Urged To Watch For Campus Crime

Now that kids are on summer vacation, the Sacramento City Unified School District is asking neighbors to keep an eye out for vandalism and break-ins at its 75 campuses.

Gabe Ross with the district says when school's not in session, the opportunity increases for vandalism and theft - which ends up costing a lot of money.

"Historically it's been very large," says Ross. "We're talking about tens of thousands of dollars a year. Fortunately in recent years because we have had such great support from our neighbors we've been able to really slow some of the accounts of vandalism and damage to school sites."

Schools won't be totally abandoned over the next couple of months. Summer school starts next week on 40 campuses.

But Ross says those campuses will still be vulnerable to criminals in the late afternoon and through the night.

"We have a very small security staff," says Ross. "But as you can imagine 75 schools, plus other district facilities, is a lot for a small number of folks to patrol. We work very closely with Sac PD and local law enforcement. But security staff and law enforcement it can't be everywhere all the time."

He says if you see any suspicious activity, report it to the police or sheriff's department. For schools within Sacramento city limits, call (916) 264-5471. People outside city boundaries should call the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department at (916) 874-5115. School security can be reached at (916) 643-7444.

The regular school year resumes in early September.