At the beginning of the school year, police officers and civil guards will help with traffic near schools in the morning and in the afternoon, the head of the traffic police department of the National Police Headquarters (ORFK) announced on Thursday in Izsák, at the national opening of the “School Policeman” program.
At the event, which was also the opening ceremony of the Mihály Izsáki Táncsics Primary School, József Óberling said: the school policeman program, which was started 15 years ago, will continue this school year, which aims to promote safe, accident-free traffic and rule-following behavior of elementary school children, and their traffic knowledge expansion, uncovering and eliminating factors endangering children’s safety.
He emphasized: in the 2023/2024 academic year, more than two thousand school police officers will undertake this task in addition to their professional service in almost 2,900 educational institutions.
At the opening of the joint start-of-school campaign of the ORFK and the ORFK-National Accident Prevention Committee (ORFK-OBB), József Óberling emphasized that special attention is paid to ensuring that children can safely approach school on foot or by bicycle.
The police and civil guard also pay extra attention to the law-abiding behavior of motorists, especially when approaching designated pedestrian crossings and the use of seat belts and child seats.
The department head also spoke about the fact that during the academic year the school guard regularly participates in the life of the school, maintains contact with the management of the educational institution and the students. If invited, he will also be present at major events of the institution. School staff and families alike can turn to him with confidence at any time, he said.
Summarizing the experiences of the program, József Óberling indicated: fortunately, it is very rare for children to have a fatal traffic accident on the way to school or on the way home at the beginning of the school year. The program is announced every year, at the beginning of each school year, so that no child is injured in a traffic accident, not only at the beginning of the school year, but also during the year, he added.
Bács-Kiskun county police chief Zsolt Gulyás called the education of children for accident-free traffic an important mission of the police at the opening of the school year. More and more schools are joining the “School Policeman” program, which dates back decades and was launched in 2008.
The county captain highlighted: this year a new initiative will be launched in Bács-Kiskun, KEVE, Let’s Move Together, Take Care of Each Other! program, which was developed by the Accident Prevention Committee of the Csongrád-Csanád County Police Headquarters and launched in 2017 with four departments.
The program to help the traffic safety of elementary school students starts with 122 classes in more than 80 schools in Bács-Kiskun county, he said.
Finally, Zsolt Gulyás introduced the local school police officer, Balázs Frankó, who is the district commissioner of the Izsák police station.
