Public Safety & School Security

The Public Safety & School Security Department is charged with ensuring that school campuses are free of crime, while treating all persons with dignity and respect. We believe that by building trusted relationships with our staff, scholars, and their families, we will create a safe environment for our scholars to learn, grow, and thrive without fear of crime or violence.

As a department, we employ a team of dedicated certifiable police officers, non-sworn personnel, sergeants, and training compliance officers who work under the direction of the Executive Director of Public Safety & School Security. 

Our Motto: Prevention and intervention before detention and apprehension

Through this motto, our Public Safety & Security Officers are trained to prevent, observe, and report. If an incident does occur, we provide thorough detail as witnesses to local law enforcement, and report all crimes and violations to our local police department for further investigation. Officers also provide crowd control at athletic events and other school functions. 

School Security Resources

To ensure safety during emergency situations, each school is required to perform emergency fire drills, tornado drills, and lockdown drills. For more information on the district's proactive steps to safety, read Board Policy 4040 on Safety.

View School Safety Drills Reports

As a District with strong connection to our community, we encourage the use of District buildings and grounds by properly organized and responsible groups in compliance with Board Policy 9250 regarding Use of District Facilities.

Visit our Facilities & Operations page to learn more about building use or submit a Building Use Request Form.

GRPS prohibits the possession of any type of weapon or look-alike weapon on school property or at any school-sponsored event. All weapons are prohibited in addition to the dangerous weapons defined by state and federal law. Look-alike weapons include, but are not limited to, a belt, comb, pencil, file, a pair of scissors, smoke bomb, air soft gun and BB gun. When a look- alike weapon is used to commit an actual crime or violate school policy, the item, device or object may be considered as an actual weapon.

Read more about weapons violations in our Scholar Resouce & Responsiblity Guide

To report an item lost on district property, please contact the security personnel of the building where the item was lost. If you are unable to reach building security, please contact the Public Safety & School Security Office at 616-819-2100 or email GRPSPublicSafety@grps.org.

The privilege of parking on Grand Rapids Public School property requires a parking sticker per vehicle, which may be purchased for a $15 annual fee from the Public Safety & School Security Department. Any scholar who plans to park a vehicle on GRPS property must follow all of the GRPS Polices related to scholar parking that can be found in our Student Policy Handbook. 

We ask all who use our transportation services to carefully follow our School Bus Conduct while riding with GRPS. Scholars who use transportation services provided by GRPS including Dean Tranportation and The Rapid are considered to be in school, and therefore, subject to all rules for health and safety while on the bus. Misbehavior on a bus is distracting to drivers and interferes with the safety of all scholars. Behavior considered as seriously disruptive will result in disciplinary action.

Keep schools safe and staff informed with these helpful links:

 

Hours of Operation

Monday - Friday | 7:30 AM - 4:00 PM

 

Contact Us

Larry Johnson
Chief of Staff & Executive Director of Public Safety & School Security

For questions regarding School Safety programs, please call our Public Safety & School Security Office at 616-819-2100 or Email PublicSafety@grps.org.

For life threatening emergencies, please call 911 immediately.