Four years ago, in September 2004, a violent, inhumane hostage crisis claimed the
lives of 334 individuals, including 186 students of a school in a small southern city
of Beslan, Russia. It was the most tragic terrorist act in the recent Russian history
of fighting extremism and crime.
American soil has not seen such extreme attacks against children, but violence
in the schools of the nation is a daily occurrence. Although school violence as
phenomena has been decreasing in frequency since the 1970s, the severity of it has
dramatically increased and the numbers are astounding for concerned parents,
school authorities, and police. According to the National School Safety Center,
almost three million crimes are committed on or near a school campus each year,
accounting for 11% of all reported crimes in the United States.
When juvenile violence attracted national attention more than a decade ago
following the most horrific homicides behind the school walls, law enforcement
and school administration responded with an array of safety training, drills,
and technological measures. Currently, there are hardly any schools where
administration has not launched more visible security and preventative programs
targeting bullying and other problems that can lead to violence. Law enforcement
agencies are typically the main agencies contacted by school authorities for advice
and assistance with school crisis prevention programs, and they are almost always
the first to be called when violence erupts. An important result of this focus on
resisting school violence is the increased coordinated involvement of school
districts, law enforcement, parents, and students in keeping schools safe. |
