In addition to ensuring the safety of about 70,000 schoolchildren and thousands of staff members, the Detroit Public School Police Department (DPS PD) is responsible for protecting more than 230 facilities spread throughout Detroit’s 143 square miles. A declining population and shifting student enrollment required that some buildings be closed for renovation or resale, and these vacant buildings became targets for criminals looking to strip the structures of their copper wiring, their pipes, and their other fixtures. Once the buildings are targeted, the school district bears the enormous cost to bring them back up to code and prevent their facilities from becoming blights on neighborhood property values.