I am really happy and proud of the men and women in Blue who work our streets. They do a great job in my opinion. I am unhappy with the drugs in the high schools. Kids can get anything they want drug-wise. It's soup d'jour and parents deny and say "not my kid". How dumb. I would like to see the police patrol parks, Jack In the Box parking lots and ride their bikes plain-clothes more often. Sit near Subway downtown and watch the drug deals go down. I watched a drug buy go down right next to the Harvest Park fields on Greenwood. Sit at Safeway after school and on a Friday/Saturday evening and watch the "shoulder tapping" that goes on (kids asking people of age to buy cigarettes and booze for them). Safeway has booze stolen often because they choose not to place their booze at the back of the store. It is great that crime is "about the same" as last year but that shouldn't be good enough--it should be less. Our community is losing the drug war. I fear within a year or two we will see a kid dead, either from a bad drug deal or from an overdose. Parents will say I am negative. No I have first hand experience with my kid and his intro was when he played freshman football. Members of the football team were doing drugs! Parents beware, it's coming. I pray it is not yours.

I agree with your points Scott, but drinking and drugs are certainly not new problems. BTW, almost every year one or more kids for the last several years have been killed in an alcohol related car crash, so your bet about a kid dieing while a tragedy is not much of a risk.

Drugs including, alcohol (legal drug), pot, coke, speed, extasy and dozen's of others are openly available and are an epidemic nationally, and in Pleasanton. Unfortunately, the biggest problem seems to stem from readily available prescription drugs. I've heard and seen news stories of kids going to parties and popping handfuls of pills not even knowing the quantity or mix of what they are taking.

Point to all of this....... It IS happening, don't deny it, take as much responsibility as you can. When your kid says "I'm sleeping over so at so's house", CALL THOSE PARENTS and make sure they are on board, sober themselves and willing to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY! Otherwise, don't be a victim and say "I thought it would be OK"?

BE TOUGH. BE A PARENT, NOT A FRIEND. There is plenty of time to be their friend after you've raised them to adulthood.

Watch the crime rate go up once the new BART station goes in next to Stoneridge. I hope PPD is planning how to boost their coverage in that area.

Scott and Whut your postings are right on! The PPD do a great job.

Another look at the youth in Pleasanton is The California Healthy Survey results through the PUSD has been overlooked or ignored by the district and board

Statistics results : 30, 7th graders brought a gun to school in 2007.
15 9th graders
15 11th graders in 2007

The company that complied the results have stated that the answers are for the most part truthful in their experience, anonymity works well. This was never addressed in any board meeting or addressed by the district staff. For all the results, go to the PUSD website / home page.
Drugs in and out of schools, always have been prevalant despite the SRO on the campuses.
Underage drinking in Pleasanton will always be high, one reason, the PPD caved to the council on the drinking ordinance a few years back. Until the community policing heads out the door and the PPD steps up and goes back to the council for a better ordinance to reduced underage drinking your family will remain at risk on the streets when you have kids drinking and driving. (yes, adults, too)
My belief, fighting for the past 15 years for student safety, until there is a major event with kids in Pleasanton, parents, the district will keep silent.
Interesting, with all the passion that folks have put into the Prop 8 discussion, it's too bad that they won't share the same passion in helping our kids in Pleasanton stay safe.