QUINCY, ILL. -- We received a viewer email about a lack of crossing guards at Monroe school due to budget cuts.  We checked with Quincy Police Department to see if that's true or not. Lt. Dina Dreyer said that no crossing guards were cut due to budgets. In fact, crossing guards are employed by QPD not by the school district.

It's 3 o'clock and school is out for most students. They're excited and ready to go home, but how do you know your child is safe when crossing the street? Where are the crossing guards?

"It's just based upon where the need is, based upon traffic count and it's based upon past practice from the year before. We use several different criteria to actually place a guard," said Quincy Police Department Lt. Dina Dreyer.

One of the busiest intersections for students crossing the street is here at 24th and Maine. These students come from Madison Elementary and St. Peter's School and are the youngest group of kids crossing the streets.

"The younger the age the less likely they are to pay attention to traffic. They're more distracted, so we try and take that into count when we try and place a crossing guard," Lt. Dreyer said.

Another busy intersection is at 30th and Maine. These kids come from Baldwin Intermediate School, which is right on the corner.

"The closer they get to the school, that's the most dangerous time for them, so having crossing guards to help them assist them get across traffic, sometimes we have to actually stop traffic, and that's very dangerous, not only for the crossing guard, but if you didn't have a crossing guard then you would have children doing that, and that's not a responsibility you should give to a young child," said Lt. Dreyer.

One more intersection to pay close attention to is 14th and Maine. The students from Quincy Junior High are an older group, but are still walking to school. Another thing taken into consideration when placing crossing guards is how closer is the school to a safe intersection.

"Is there maybe that they need to walk another block or two just to make it safely to make it to a safer location rather than them crossing on their own," Lt. Dreyer said.

The Quincy Police Department will check within the first two weeks of school starting to re-evaluate the number of crossing guards.

Anyone can be a Crossing Guard. You have to under-go a training session, and a background check through the Quincy police department.