Law Enforcement Response to School Violence - Essay Example

Law Enforcement Response to School Violence of the of Introduction At adolescent, youth are prone to bouts of violence. School violence can be seen as such one form of violence. It is a problem especially in public schools. This is against the societal expectations of school. It is supposed to be a safe place for the development of the child. Where it occurs, violence disrupts the learning process in the school. It has a negative effect to many players in the learning sector. This includes the parents, teachers, students, the administration and society at large. It can take place at any level of learning. This includes elementary school, colleges and even universities. This means that the child is prone to violence in school regardless of which level of education he is at. Some people view this phenomenon as a manifestation of the failing standards of the public health. It is a form of antisocial behaviors that could have originated earlier in the life of the child. It continues to young adulthood. School violence takes place when the youth, or the child, takes these anti social behaviors to the school. It comes in many forms. The child may bully his school mates. He might use physical violence and even weapons on his victims. The child in school can be the perpetrator or the victim of this act. He may also be a mere victim. Whichever way you look at it, the child is the most affected by school violence. School violence has many effects. It can result to death or even persisting effects like trauma. That is the reason why society has always tended to respond to this phenomenon. One such kind of response is the application of law enforcing techniques. This is mainly by the authorities concerned, may it be the school or police authorities. Law Enforcement Response to School Violence There are various ways to determine whether violence is school based or not. It has to meet certain thresholds for it to be labeled school violence. It has to occur on the school property (Guthner, 2002). Alternatively, it could have occurred on the way to the learning institution. When it takes place on the way to or from a school sponsored occasion, it can also be called school violence (Malinowski, 2003). In looking at the law enforcement response to school violence, we will look at how they respond to both the victim and the perpetrator. The school administration is the first line of response to school based violence (Kimberly, 2004). This involves the teachers and the school security apparatus. Remember that school violence can be perpetrated by the students or from an outsider to the school. Then the other fall back is the law administrators. There are various ways to respond to this form of violence. There is the strategy that is used when the violence has already taken place. This is called the intervention strategy. 0It includes evacuation of the victim. The victim of violence is taken to a medical facility. This is if he had acquired injuries (Russell, 2005). The school should be having a medical facility on the property. This is a dispensary or a school based health provider. This goes a long way to save the life of the victim. Arrangements could be made to take the victim to a professional doctor using ambulance or any other form of school transport. Counseling is very important if there is evidence that the victim could have experienced psychological problems. The perpetrator is then taken by the school administration for interrogation. It is the responsibility of the administration to find out why the perpetrator resorted to violence. If he is a student, counseling or expulsion from the school are some of the strategies employed by the school administration. He is apprehended by the school administration if he is from outside the school. Another response is to prevent the occurrence of the violence (Tonkin, 2006). This includes the process of identifying sources of threats and neutralizing them. The law enforcers should be able to read the early signs of violence. This includes signs of unrest in the school. A kid may be inciting his friends into violence without the knowledge of the authorities. The students who are likely to cause violence should be identified and dealt with (Tonkin, 2006). This is by counseling them or eliminating them from the school environment. As long as they remain in the school environment, they pose a danger to their colleagues. Risk factors should be addressed. They should also be protected from these risks. This can only be attained if the teachers are trained on how to detect those signs early. The learning environment should be made conducive for learning. The school should be wary of violence from teachers that is directed to the students (Linda, 2008). The teachers should be expelled from the school if they don't show signs of changing. Communication is very important in responding to violence (Linda, 2008). It should be fostered between the stakeholders. These are the students and the staff. Some violence occurs due to lack of communication. This leads to frustrations and the only way to vent these frustrations is through violence. The parents should also endeavor to communicate with their children. This is the only way that potent violent behaviors can be exposed and dealt with. Positive discipline should be encouraged in the schools (Guthner, 2002). This is through the provision by the school of an environment where the students feel that they are been catered for. They should not be ignored. Appropriate behavior should be taught and encouraged. The students and all those who are affected by school violence should be taught how to resolve their problems in a safe way without resorting to violence. This is where communication between the students becomes very important. It has been noted that some children are incapable of dealing with their anger. They should be trained on how to deal with it positively. This is because they are the ones who resort to violence when trying to solve their anger. These efforts from the school should be supported by the community from which the children come from. The school administration should collaborate with the law enforcers to ensure that their schools are safe (Russell, 2005). It should employ qualified security agents to protect their school from intruders who may pose a threat to the children. The staff should be trained on how to handle violent eruptions. Some handling techniques have been known to be destructive. Every response should be tailored to the specific circumstance (Malinowski, 2003). It is not all situations that can be handled by mere counseling of the student. If the student was so violent as to cause death to the victim, this becomes a case for the juvenile courts. But if the level of violence was low and from students known not to be trouble makers, heavy-handedness may deteriorate the situation (Kimberly, 2004). The child might end up becoming more violent than ever before. Counseling and guidance here seems to produce the best results. In law enforcement response to school violence, the school might call in the relevant law enforcement agents to contain the situation. This may be in situations of school unrests where the violence of the students overwhelms the school capacity to handle it (Tonkin, 2006). They can be called in to break up demonstration by the students. They have to act within the law in their action since they are dealing with minors and not old people. Those who are found to be guilty and cannot be handled by the school should be taken to the juvenile court. This is because school violence is treated as a form of juvenile delinquency. The presence of law enforcers in the schools have been fiercely criticized by people in the society (Kimberly, 2004). This is because a school is not considered to be the place for them. It is considered to be a haven of learning segregated from the rest of the community. Traditionally, it is viewed that little or no help is required from outsiders, more so the police, to maintain discipline in the institution (Tonkin, 2006). Calling for external intervention is an admission by the school authorities that they are unable to handle the situation. This in extension shows that they can not be entrusted with the well being of the children. That is the reason why schools do not mainly report cases of violence, unless it is grave, to the authorities. Another reason is that the way the police respond to school violence is reported to be very rough (Guthner, 2002). They are crude and lack tact and diplomacy. They are bound to treat students like rioting factory workers. Thus, the students cannot be entrusted to them. They are not trained on how to handle children. But with the rise in school violence, a compromise seems to have been reached between these two parties (Guthner, 2002). School safety programs have been established. This is whereby under the management of the school, officers are recruited who over see the security of the whole school. It has been applied with success in some states like Florida and Georgia. But it is criticized as been very expensive to the schools. But it should be known that law enforcement and courts are the ones to handle any form of crime. This is regardless of whether it is committed by a student, in school or not. Conclusion Minor offences in school can be handled informally by the school. This is without the involvement of the legal apparatus. But if this fails for one reason or another, legal measures should be considered. This is where the law enforcement comes in as far as responding to school violence is concerned. They handle offences like use of weapons and drugs by the students. The safety of the student while in school is the responsibility of everyone in the society. That is why it is important to include other players in the resolution of this violence. To this end, schools should report every serious crime in their school to a designated law agency. Then the agency should carry out the investigations and prosecutions in a professional manner. It has been reported that gang activities have taken root in our school (Malinowski, 2003). These are responsible for most of the crimes that do occur in the schools. Police are better positioned to deal with these gangs than is the teacher. But word of caution to the law enforcers. They should realize that the maintenance of law and order in school is the responsibility of the teacher. They should not try to usurp this role. The law enforcers should also train the teachers, school security and administration. This is in how to handle criminal behaviors and how to detect it. This is because these are the people who are in constant contact with the child. They are the best suited to handle school violence. References Guthner, Q., (2002). The facts about school violence. Parker Books. New York. Kimberly, S., (2004). Ways to reduce youth violence: conflict resolution the only way forward. Prentice Hall. New Jersey. Linda, G., (2008). Putting youth violence in context. Benbenishty. Colorado. Malinowski, E., (2003). A guide to combat school violence. Castle Publishers. Wyoming. Russell, B,. (2005). Views on school violence. Elliot and Melliot. Massachusetts. Tonkin, D., (2006). School safety: are the schools the haven of safety McGraw-Hill. California. Read More