Drug use rises in schools

Terry Webster

Thursday, July 26, 2001 | 10:46 a.m.

Incidents of drug possession rose 14 percent, and incidents of drug sales rose 38 percent over the past year in the Clark County School District, according to a report by school police.

Elliot Phelps, chief of the school district police, said drug use on school campuses is one of his greatest concerns.

"If you can cut down on the drugs, you can cut down on a lot of other things, including gang activity," he said.

During the 2000-2001 school year, there were 566 incidents involving possession of drugs and 54 reports of drug sales.

Statistics regarding the sale and possession of drugs are part of the district's annual crime report, which was released Wednesday.

Of the 10 crime categories reported, five increased, four decreased and one stayed the same.

Criminal reports of fights and firearms also both increased on school campuses last year.

Batteries went up 9 percent, from 773 to 842, while the number of gun incidents increased 21 percent, from 47 to 57.

Although firearm confiscation went up, the majority -- 70 percent or 40 guns -- were BB or pellet guns. Others included 15 firearms and two paint-ball guns.

Burglaries, robberies, threats (assaults), and disturbances, meanwhile, were down.

Of the 10,435 total police incidents reported during the 2000-2001 school year, 8,091 were filed under miscellaneous, covering truancy, trespassing, false alarms, vandalism and traffic violations. Breakdowns were not available.

Under all categories, a total of 1,512 arrests were made.

School officials called the report an exemplary example of school safety. Although some incidents increased, officials said, the number of students increased by almost 14,000, and 12 new schools were added.

The sixth largest school district in the country, Clark County had 231,125 students in 2000-2001.

Phelps said he wants to see a greater police presence at the middle school level. Currently about one-half of all middle schools have police officers on campus.

Often, it's in middle school that trouble begins.

"Elementary school students are asking each other what gang they are going to belong to when they get to middle school," Phelps said.