Venice High School plans on-campus police substation

VENICE (FOX 13) - Venice High School will soon be getting some extra eyes to watch over their campus. After the Parkland shooting, Principal Eric Jackson said he had the idea to turn the school's security room into a working police substation. 

"We hopefully have a formula for success that people want to model," said Principal Jackson. 

It'll be open 24-7 within the school for officers to work from.

"They will have the opportunity to come in and take care of the paperwork that piles up over the course of the day as they are out in the streets," Jackson explained.  

It'll be closed to the public and you won't see any bookings happening there.   It's strictly a work space that adds to the police presence on campus. Right now, two officers are stationed as school resource officers. 

"An officer working midnight shift, early in the morning, early in the day -- if they have to sit down in front of a computer and work on a report or do some online training, they have access to do that. They don't have to come all the way into the police station to do that," said Chief Tom Mattmuller. 

There's still a lot of work that needs to be done at Venice High before the new substation can open. They hope to have officers in place by August 1, right before the new school year starts.

Principal Jackson believes this is a win-win model that can only do more good for his school.

"If there was anybody here looking to do harm to anyone, they would have to take in consideration that we always have a police force on our campus," he added.