North Texas

North Texas School to Add Police Substation in Building

Westlake Academy is taking school security to the next level, adding a Keller Police Department substation that will open later this spring.

The substation will cost about $25,000 and be built in an existing school building. The city of Westlake has an existing contract with Keller police and will pay for the facilities construction.

"We wanted people coming and going, we wanted officers pulling in and out of the campus, we wanted them circling the parking lots," said Assistant Principal Jennifer Furnish.

Keller police say the project has been discussed for years, and with school shootings on the rise nationwide, increasing the police presences is as important as ever.

"As you watch the trend and you continue to see the more frequent nature of some of these active attacks, you start thinking how can we add new layers of protection," said Keller Police Chief Michael Wilson.

Students at the school say they support the police presence after having watched kids their same age go through the unthinkable in Parkland, Florida.

"It's unfortunate that now we do have to think about that, we do have to take measures to ensure it doesn't happen again," said Alexis Walker.

Construction on the new substation will start at the end of February. Keller police expect to have one to six officers coming in and out of the facility at all times.

Contact Us