Editorial: Don’t leave school cops in the dark

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2003 | 9 a.m.

If school-age children see police officers only when someone is being detained or carted off to jail, they could develop a negative image of law enforcement -- an image that could last well into their adult lives. This is one reason we support a new Metro Police outreach program that assigns officers to 28 public schools and five private schools in West Las Vegas. Officers will visit the schools at least twice a month, enabling students to interact with police in the more positive settings of friendship and counseling.

This is a program being developed around the proven philosophy that increased communication can reap immediate and long-term rewards. It's ironic, then, that this liaison program started out last week with a monumental communications gaffe. As part of the program's kickoff, administrators from all the involved schools were invited to Metro's Bolden substation, which serves West Las Vegas neighborhoods. The meeting went well, with police fielding questions and offering advice, such as to call them whenever there is a fight brewing or whenever any problem surfaces.

When Las Vegas Sun reporter Emily Richmond placed a routine call to the chief of the Clark County School District police, to get his take on the new program, however, she was met with a surprising comment. "I wish they would tell us about stuff like this," Chief Elliot Phelps said. No one, including Metro Police officers and district administrators, had thought to inform the school police about the new program. Phelps immediately pinpointed one major problem with his force being left in the dark. He has always told school principals to call his office first regarding any problem needing a police response. Now Metro was telling officials to call them first. "What I don't want is school personnel to have Metro's phone number in one hand and ours in the other and not know who they're supposed to call," Phelps said.

The incident comes on the heels of another recent story, in which the Sun reported a breakdown in communication between school police and principals regarding records of incidents at their schools. We see the school police as being invaluable to the safety and security of all 260,000 Clark County students. They should be uppermost in the minds of teachers, principals and other administrators, not an afterthought.