The School Safety Program began at the end of the 1993-94 school year. It was designed to implement the concepts of community policing and problem solving by creating a setting in which students, working in cooperation with teachers, administrators, and police officers, could identify and try to reduce problems of crime, juvenile delinquency, and disorder. Program components included planning by police and school staff; providing students with problem solving classes to involve students, teachers, and police; and scheduling regular reviews by police, teachers, and administrators of campus issues and student problem solving activities. Eleventh-grade students learned the SARA (Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment) model of problem solving. Teachers served as facilitators; the police resource officer regularly attended and served as an information resource and resident expert in dealing with crime and disorder. Evaluation of the project's impacts revealed positive results in several areas. Students reported experiencing less fear of specific areas of the school campus and far fewer incidents of having to fight to protect themselves. Teachers felt safer in the schools and more willing to confront misbehaving students. School administrators reported a significant reduction in incidents requiring student supervision; the largest reduction was in suspensions due to conflicts between students. Several factors contributed to the project's success. Tables, figures, program forms, appended statements of support from the school administration and the police, and approximately 200 references
Crime in the Schools: Reducing Fear and Disorder With Student Problem Solving
NCJ Number
174193
Date Published
1998
Length
246 pages
Annotation
This volume discusses crime in schools, the development of school safety programs, the role of police in school-based programs and juvenile delinquency prevention, and the nature and results of the School Safety Program established at West Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, N.C. and based on a student-based problem solving approach.
Abstract
Date Published: January 1, 1998