The Sheriff’s Office’s new School Services Unit began
operations yesterday with a widely covered press conference. The major TV media
out of Seattle led their articles about the unit emphasizing the Snohomish
County schools will have “armed” deputies in them. But with that lead, the
media misses the point and the potential depth of this new unit.
Yes, the Sergeant and 5 deputies who make up the unit are
armed. And they will regularly visit schools in the unincorporated part of the
county. But, alone, they cannot be on guard duty 24 hours a day at 100 schools.
They can, however, “partner” with those schools to develop plans that meet each
school’s safety needs. Those needs can range from an emergency plan for dealing
with someone shooting in the school to dealing with petty theft in the
hallways, or bullying among the students. Safety threats can change over time,
and each school needs to be aware of the changing conditions around it to keep
their students safe while they learn.
This approach is not a fortress approach, but one that uses
modern police thinking in working with the public to keep our communities, and
in this case, our schools safe. The decision to create
this unit is based on theories such as community policing, situational crime
prevention, and Problem Oriented Policing. The unit will listen to the needs of
each school to determine how it can help. But, it will also look to the schools
to take appropriate actions. The unit and the schools each have their parts to
keeping our schools safe. Parents and their children should not have to rely on
a lone, armed guard to protect them from the possibility of a violent act. By
working together, the Sheriff’s Office and school staffs can develop a
flexibility to guard against a wide variety of threats both large and small.
Local news coverage about the School Services Unit:
The Herald-
KING- TV-
The Seattle Times-
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020570211_schoolservicesunitxml.html
No comments:
Post a Comment