Police, school district begin anti-violence campaign

Amanda Finnegan

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced its anti-violence campaign at Clark High School Friday morning. Police filmed a public service announcement with local students and teachers for their message to reach the community.

By Amanda Finnegan

Friday, Aug. 15, 2008 | 1:30 p.m.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced its anti-violence campaign for the upcoming school year this morning at Clark High School.

“Very simply put, we want to eliminate the violence in and around our schools,” Sheriff Douglas Gillespie said. “The two incidents we focused on most last year didn’t happen on school grounds. Since that time, all law enforcement has worked very closely with the school district police to make schools as safe as they possibly can.”

Lt. Ken Young, of the Clark County School District Police Department, said officials confiscated 16 guns on school campuses last year, which is a drop compared to recent years.

On Feb. 15, 15-year-old freshman Christopher Privett was shot to death near Palo Verde High School in Summerlin. Less than two weeks later, 16-year-old Western High School sophomore Victor Bravo was shot and killed blocks away from Gibson Middle School in Las Vegas.

Christopher Privett’s father, Michael Privett, is a member of the anti-violence campaign.

“I am pleased to see the community come together in this effort,” he said. “When Chris was killed in February, that was one of the things I wanted to see grow out of his death.”

To reinforce their message to the community, Metro Police, along with school officials and students, filmed public service announcements Friday morning that will be featured on Las Vegas television stations and YouTube.

But aside from the PSAs, police didn’t announce other specific strategies.

“As we get closer, we will be talking about deployment aspect. We are going to be committing recourses during certain times of the day around schools throughout the valley,” Gillespie said.

Private schools will be opening in about a week. The first day of school for Clark County public school students is Aug. 25.