Editorial Editorial (April 01, 2005)

Police work to protect schools from violence

In his book, "Preventing Violence in Our Schools," Dave Grossman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and internationally known expert in the field of the roots of violence and how best to keep our communities safe, stresses the need for increased security and police vigilance in our public schools. He points out that when you go to any school in America, including Pleasanton's, you see fire sprinklers, fire exits, fire alarms and fire extinguishers. Kids practice fire drills over and over in preparation for a fire, something that has not killed or seriously injured a school student in years. Clearly, he reports, we are doing what's right in terms of protecting students from school fires.

But it's a different story when it comes to school safety from violence, although Pleasanton has become a leader in turning that around. Other communities are also addressing campus security concerns as it becomes clear that crazed gunmen and campus intruders can be students themselves as well as adults. Reporting on the Police Department's efforts in cooperation with the school district and Pleasanton youth groups, Police Chief Tim Neal cited some of Grossman's data at a joint meeting of the district board and the City Council on safety programs. According to Grossman and the federal government, data collected for calendar year 1998 showed there were 35 murders and 257,000 serious injuries because of violence. Those figures did not include the Columbine High School massacre or the North Valley Jewish Community Center killings the following year, nor last week's deadly rampage by a junior at Red Lake (Minn.) High School that left his grandparents and 12 of his classmates dead.

Neal told officials that although there are no failsafe systems for guaranteeing violence-free school campuses, or communities for that matter, his department's programs have had a calming effect through stepped-up vigilance and close, better working relations between police and the students they protect. Learning from the mistakes at Columbine and other school incidents, the department has assigned four police officers full-time to school campuses everyday. Neal has provided 60 cellular telephones to school personnel to use in summoning emergency help. New training programs give both police, school staffs and students better capability in recognizing erratic or questionable behavior that could indicate drugs or anger that place others at risk.

Early this month, an administrator saw a bulge in a visitor's pocket that she thought could be a gun. It was, and her quick call to police brought eight armed officers to the office within a minute to disarm and sternly lecture a process server who had ignored the "No guns on campus" rule. A custodian alerted police to a man behaving strangely near the Vintage Hills Elementary School campus. A troubled young man spotted by police was arrested as he fled into the Lydiksen Elementary campus.

Neal's initiatives have been successful in fostering better relations with teenagers, where there had been little communications earlier. Officers regularly join teens in athletic and community volunteer events. Police Sgt. Brian Laurence, who formed the department's Explorer Post and Teen Academy, participates in every meeting of the city's Youth Commission. Police sponsor the widely praised "Every 15 Minutes" program held in May to vividly show the dangers of drinking and driving. The DARE program, started in 1989, has now taught more than 20,000 fifth-graders about the risks of using drugs. New programs, including Intruder Drills and school lockdowns and "Stranger Danger" lessons for teens that have baby-sitting responsibilities, bring a better sense of police work to young people regularly.

At the council-school board joint meeting, Neal won much deserved praise for his work in improving both youth relations with the Police Department and providing better security for students against violence just as they are protected against injury from fires. That's comforting news, indeed, as students head back to classes Monday after a 10-day Spring Break.

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