My daughter, a 7th grader at Sidener Academy, was sexually assaulted by two boys on an Indianapolis Public School school bus. Even though there were two witnesses who saw enough to warrant an investigation and a call to Child Protective Services, the evidence is considered circumstantial because her seat is just out of range of the bus security cameras. If I had known this, my daughter would have been instructed by me to never sit in that seat. When IPS police officer Jack Mertes advised me that her particular seat was not in range of the cameras, my heart sank. He explained that no two buses are alike. The camera coverage varies per bus. I wish I'd known. 

Hence, this petition:

I believe IPS should provide the parents of IPS students specific information regarding the camera coverage of their child's school bus. If the camera on the bus covers the entire bus, that should be made known. If there are areas on the bus that are not captured by the cameras, that should be made know as well.

If nothing else, this petition may make parents aware to ask if the cameras capture their child's seat.

Even though my daughter provided detailed accounts of what the boys did to her, even though my daughter has never been in trouble, even though the two boys who did this to her have been in frequent trouble, even though there were two witnesses who saw enough to determine that something did happened, even though the witnesses heard the boys repeatedly ask her for sex... without that footage the boys may or may not be prosecuted.  The police sent the evidence to the prosecuting attorneys office on November 22, 2016. It is now in their hands.  

The cameras probably wouldn't have prevented this from happening to my daughter, but that footage would have taken this case from circumstantial to direct proof of the truth. Maybe it would have been enough to convince IPS to keep the assailants away from her after the assault. With the way it stands, they did not. 

Please sign this petition to show your support in insisting that IPS proactively make bus camera footage details available to parents. The camera coverage information should be listed on the IPS website for each school bus. 

My goal is to make parents aware so parents aren't naive like I was. Don't wait until something happens to your child on an IPS school bus and then discover the cameras did not capture it. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.