On-campus arrests, citations down since school district installed security system
On-campus crimes have dropped since the School District of Lee County installed campus security systems,
Arrests, simple citations, and notices to appear have declined since the implementation of the OPENGATE weapons detection system, according to a presentation to the Lee County School Board Tuesday.
Safety, Security and Fleet Operations Chief Dave Newlan said they now have data for 2023 and 2024. It was broken down with the overall statistics, and then by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Myers Police Department, and the Cape Coral Police Department where Newlan previously served as chief.
Overall, for 2023 there were 1,226 arrests, simple citations, and notices to appear, compared to 934 in 2024, a 27% reduction.
For LCSO in 2023 there were 596 arrests, simple citations, and notices to appear, compared to 491 in 2024, a 19% decrease. Broken down further there were 163 arrests in 2023 for LCSO, compared to 122 in 2024. Civil citations went from 352 to 293 in 2024 and notices to appear went from 81 to 76.
FMPD had 156 arrests, simple citations, and notices to appear for 2023, compared to 143 in 2024, a 9% decrease. The total arrests for FMPD went from 70 in 2023 to 63 in 2024; civil citations went from 61 in 2023 to 68 in 2024 and notices to appear went from 25 to 12.
The CCPD had 474 arrests, simple citations, and notices to appear for 2023, compared to 300 in 2024, a 45% decrease. Arrests went from 31 in 2023 to 28 in 2024; civil citations went from 55 to 14 in 2024 and notices to appear went from 388 to 258 in 2024.
Newlan said the curiosity is, is there a correlation with OPENGATE as far as safety.
One interesting statistic was the 50% drop in weapon charges, which does not necessarily mean a gun. Newlan said it could be a knife, or a box cutter, both of which are considered a weapon.
“I thought that was a big difference,” Newlan said.
Board member Jada Langford-Fleming said OPENGATE has been a game changer, if nothing else a deterrent, since nothing is 100% proof. She asked the safety team to work on outside sporting events when it comes to OPENGATE.
“Something I have continued to witness, as the season goes on it gets a little looser,” Langford-Fleming said, as people are not paying as much of attention to make sure every single person is going through the weapons detection system, and not around it.
“Outside facilities worry me more than even the inside sometimes. I would love to see the safety team focus on that this year,” she said. “People don’t realize it is a protocol. It is important that we continue to blast it out. Keep that transparency and communication live.”
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