Legislative panel wants police called for violence at schools

Thursday, May 25, 2000 | 10:46 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- There should be a law requiring school officials to call the police anytime a violent act occurs on campus, a state panel concluded Wednesday.

After a discussion of some four hours, a legislative committee on school violence decided that Nevada law should be amended to require the school to notify police, who can then take over the investigation of serious incidents.

Metro Police Lt. Stan Olsen testified that police don't want to be called when one student punches another, resulting only in a minor injury. But he said there have been serious incidents when the police are not notified only to learn later from parents about the problem.

The committee, headed by Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, previously heard testimony that one student was beaten senseless and the school administrator never called police.

Olsen said local police have the experience and skills to investigate these incidents because they deal with these things every day as opposed to school police.

In some cases, school police didn't call police and in other cases, school administrators didn't notify officers of serious incidents, the committee was told.

The 1999 Legislature created the committee on school violence after the April 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., left 13 dead. It was directed to come up with recommendations for the 2001 Legislature.

The committee decided that school districts should adopt emergency response plans. In addition, the committee urged and encouraged school districts to take a number of steps to reduce trouble on school grounds.

For instance, it suggested schools place additional adult volunteers on school campuses and playgrounds to stop bullying of students. Schools were urged to offer a wider variety of after-school programs to keep students occupied during peak crime periods. Government agencies should provide parenting skill instruction to families in which children are involved in the juvenile justice system.

The committee supported community efforts to restrict the accessibility of firearms to juveniles and it encouraged the state Department of Education and the attorney general's office to include in their next budget money for a gang prevention pilot program.

Cy Ryan is the Sun's capital bureau chief. He can be reached at (775) 687-5032.