Saint Paul police hoping to catch students in the act—of reading
5/7/2003 10:50 AM

From now until the end of the school year, the Saint Paul Police Department will be on the lookout for suspicious reading activity.

Beginning May 8, police officers will ask random Saint Paul students and citizens about their reading habits. People who have read the city’s book club selection, “The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963,” will be rewarded with a T-shirt that says “I Got Caught Reading by the Saint Paul Police.”

Those who have not read the book will be sentenced to “an enjoyable read” and given a copy of “The Watsons.”

“We are serious about increasing literacy,” said Harvey. “Those who have read ‘The Watsons’ will be rewarded. Those who have not, will be found and corrective literary action will be taken.”

The reading crackdown is part of an effort by Saint Paul Public Schools Superintendent Patricia Harvey, Saint Paul Mayor Randy Kelly and Police Chief William Finney to improve literacy in the city through Saint Paul Reads One Book, the citywide book club. In December, Harvey and Kelly selected “The Watsons” as the book club selection and challenged everyone in the city to read it.

“We selected a wonderful book, and I suspect everyone in town is reading it,” said Kelly. “If not, they should, because we have evidence that shows just how important reading is.”

Since the Saint Paul Reads initiative began in 1999, students in Saint Paul Schools have read more than
4 million books and scores on reading tests have improved significantly.

For more information about Saint Paul Reads, visit www.saintpaulreads.org.