HOW SAFE OUR OUR SCHOOLS? SAN DIEGO COUNTY GRAND JURY CALLS FOR STRONGER SCHOOL SECURITY

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By Miriam Raftery

March 24, 2014 (San Diego)—Mass school shootings have occurred around the nation—including tragedies locally at Santana and Granite Hills High Schools in East County, as well as at Carlsbad Elementary School and at Cleveland Elementary in San Diego. 

Now the San Diego Grand Jury has issued a report finding that not enough has been done to prevent future school shootings locally. The Grand Jury is calling for improving school security and says that low cost options need to be considered.

Plans for keeping school children safe should give greater emphasis to early identification of potentially violent individuals and training students, school staff and parents to recognize and report suspicious behavior, the Grand Jury found. At both Sandy Hook and Santana High, the shooter was a student who had exhibited a clear pattern of behavior that indicated he was capable of violence.

These and other no-cost or low-cost actions can be taken by schools and school districts to strengthen their security planning and preparedness, even in an era of tight budgets.

While they should not be abandoned, the report stresses that physical barriers such as fences, metal detectors, surveillance cameras and even armed guards do not necessarily prevent violence, and should be viewed as a supplement to, but not a substitute for, a more comprehensive school safety program.

Instead of buying more hardware, monies might be better spent on prevention efforts and creating a county-wide culture of security awareness. A strong security culture can help avoid complacency and flawed assumptions that a violent attack might happen somewhere else, but not here in our community.

In reviewing several past incidents of school violence, the Grand Jury found that most perpetrators signal their intentions in advance, and in one case as many as 50 people (including two adults) were aware of the plan but failed to alert authorities to the danger.

The Grand Jury report recommends encouraging students and parents to get involved in identifying and reporting any suspicious behavior on the part of their students or peers through established methods of reporting such as Crime Stoppers and Students Speaking Out programs which allow anonymity.

The Grand Jury is requiring that local school districts, including  those in East County, report back within six months to show that they have either implemented these recommendations, or demonstrate why solutions are impractical. The County Education Superintendent must also file a report.

The complete report can be found on the Grand Jury’s website www.sdcounty.ca.gov/grandjury  or at this link.

 

 


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