Junior safety patrol is a voluntary group of

crossing guard A crossing guard ( North American English), lollipop man/lady (British, Irish, and Australian English), crosswalk attendant (also Australian English), or school road patrol (New Zealand English) is a traffic management personnel who is normally ...

s 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 and the St. Paul Police 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 The Sam Browne is a leather belt with a supporting strap that passes over the right shoulder, worn by military and police officers. It is named after Sir Samuel J. Browne (1824–1901), the British Indian Army general who invented it. Origins ...

, needed to organize and operate a school safety patrol program. Former safety patrol members include

U.S. Presidents The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and ...

Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; Dr.

Gary S. Becker Gary Stanley Becker (; December 2, 1930 – May 3, 2014) was an American economist who received the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, and was a leader of ...

, Nobel Prize-winning

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

;

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

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 2 ...

; former Michigan Governor William Milliken;

Joe Garagiola Joseph Henry Garagiola Sr. (February 12, 1926 – March 23, 2016) was an American professional baseball catcher, later an announcer and television host, popular for his colorful personality. Garagiola played nine seasons in Major League Basebal ...

, 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-re ...

; Lee Iacocca, 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 automotiv ...

, and; Chief Justice

Warren E. Burger Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul Colleg ...

, 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 ...

History

Early, the role of students in the junior safety patrol was to "teach safety and role model 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 Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Councilman and Public Safety Commissioner Aloysius Smith, requested that the St. Paul Police 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 wo ...

s wanted to participate and they did. The headmistress of

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominat ...

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

school. Sgt. Hetznecker would introduce the

and badge that became synonymous with school patrol across the country and administered St. Paul's program for 30 years. The

Omaha Police Department The Omaha Police Department (OPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. The OPD is the largest law enfo ...

in Omaha, Nebraska instituted safety patrol program in 1923. A safety patrol was instituted in Seattle, Washington in 1928, with

Seattle Police Department The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, United States, except for the campus of the University of Washington, which is under the responsibility of its own police departmen ...

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. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, culminating in the National School Patrol Parade. The 1936 rally had more than 7,000 participants who marched on the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill at ...

. 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

, 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