Junior safety patrol is a voluntary group of crossing guards involving older

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

s helping younger students cross streets in elementary and middle schools across the United States. Both the

Chicago Motor Club The Chicago Motor Club, or CMC, is local chapter of the American Automobile Association in Chicago, Illinois. The CMC sponsored the first Elgin National Road Race in 1909. Growing from concern for the well-being of students walking to school ...

and the

St. Paul Police The Saint Paul Police Department (SPPD) is the main law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It was established in 1854, making it the oldest police organization in the state. The SPPD is t ...

started programs in 1920. As of 1995, safety patrol members were located in 76 percent of the communities across the United States. AAA clubs across the United States and Canada sponsor the 500,000 member safety patrol program in 50,000 schools. Local AAA clubs supply training materials, badges and other materials, including the orange or neon green Sam Browne belt, needed to organize and operate a school safety patrol program. Former safety patrol members include U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; Dr. Gary S. Becker, Nobel Prize-winning economist; U.S. Senator

John Warner John William Warner III (February 18, 1927 – May 25, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979 to 200 ...

; former Michigan Governor William Milliken; Joe Garagiola, member of the

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

;

Lee Iacocca Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca ( ; October 15, 1924 – July 2, 2019) was an American automobile executive best known for the development of the Ford Mustang, Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, an ...

, former Chairman of the

Chrysler Corporation Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

, and; Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, along with Burns Fessler and 21

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

History

Early, the role of students in the junior safety patrol was to "teach safety and

role model A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compare themselves ...

it." Student members were taught to "direct children, not traffic," as they had authority over the students as they crossed streets, but did not have any authority over vehicular traffic on the streets. Stamp US AAA 50th Anniversary 3-cent

With the rising use of automobiles and the attendant concerns for the well-being of

s as they walked to school, the Chicago Motor Club and the St. Paul Police pursued the concept of School Safety Patrols in 1920. That year St. Paul Councilman and Public Safety Commissioner Aloysius Smith, requested that the

start a Police program for the youth. Origins of the School Safety Patrol, 1921, MNOPEDIA, Minnesota Historical Society website, Eric W. Weber, St. Paul, Minnesota, published: October 29, 201

/ref> Sergeant Frank Hetznecker was chosen to administer the program. To start it focused on the public schools. Sgt. Hetznecker approached the St. Paul archdiocese to see if the

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

s wanted to participate and they did. The headmistress of Cathedral school, Sister Carmela Hanggi was a very strong promoter of the program. During the fall of 1920 750 students signed up for the training program and in February 1921 the first student monitored crossing took place with students from Cathedral school. Sgt. Hetznecker would introduce the Sam Browne belt and badge that became synonymous with school patrol across the country and administered St. Paul's program for 30 years. The Omaha Police Department in Omaha, Nebraska instituted safety patrol program in 1923. A safety patrol was instituted in Seattle, Washington in 1928, with Seattle Police Department Captain George W. Kimball organizing the city's program, and served as director from 1928 to his death in 1961. Kids would simply come to call them School Patrol. The junior safety patrol movement took hold in the 1930s under the sponsorship of the American Automobile Association. In 1930 a Seattle rally brought together more than 1,000 members. Yearly rallies began in 1931 in Washington, D.C., culminating in the

National School Patrol Parade National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland ...

. The 1936 rally had more than 7,000 participants who marched on the United States Capitol. The next year had more than 11,000 participants."11,000 March In Junior Safety Patrol Parade"
''Washington Post'', 5/7/38. Retrieved 8/25/07. Members of the Safety Patrol were originally all males and that some called "patrol boys". They were formally identified by either a badge or a white cloth Sam Browne belt, later replaced by an orange reflector vest or orange Sam Browne belt.

References

{{reflist

External links

"Tribute to the American Automobile Association School Safety Patrols"
House of Representatives. 10/12/95. Retrieved 7/21/2017.
"Road Wars: Return of the Safety Patrol"

"The Origins of the School Safety Patrol, 1921"
MNopedia 1920 establishments in the United States Pedestrian safety Child safety Educational organizations based in the United States Transportation in the United States

History

See also

References

External links