Police in schools more often

The Washington Police Department is more active in the schools than it has ever been, said police chief Greg Goodman. Goodman said the police are frequently in the schools to teach programs about safety, but they are also there more and more to handle disciplinary problems.

?I think there are more problems than before,? he said. ?We?re seeing more problems in lower grades than we used to. The problems we used to see at junior high, we?re now seeing at Lincoln and Stewart.?

Goodman attributed the change partly to socio-economic problems that have surfaced in recent years and also to different parenting styles.

Washington Schools Superintendent Mike Jorgensen said he has also noticed that police are at the school more now than in the past. He said his staff have training through the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) which teaches them how to diffuse confrontations through communication and body language. He said that there are some offenses, however, that need to be handled by law enforcement.

?If there is any kind of physical situation, the police are called,? he said. ?If there is anything related to drugs, alcohol or tobacco, the police are called then, too. Just about every district I know of turns those issues over to law enforcement because we have strict rules about keeping our school grounds drug free.?

Goodman agreed that police should handle physical altercations.

?The school staff can restrain students in emergency situations, but it?s better if we do it,? he said. ?Our expertise is in dealing with violent people.?

There are also legal issues that influence whether school staff or law enforcement handle a particular problem. Lincoln Elementary School Principal Dave Hoffman said the police have the ability to use force in ways that school staff do not. He said that if a child is unruly and won?t come in from recess, he cannot physically force the child to go to class.

Jorgensen said that in certain respects, schools face fewer restrictions on policing student behavior than the police. He said the school can search a student?s locker at any time because it is school property. If police officers wanted to do the same, they would need a search warrant.

Goodman said that the police take their drug dog, Ultro, to the school to search for drugs, and if they find anything they let the school decide how to handle it.

Jorgensen said that the days of corporal punishment are gone. Iowa outlawed corporal punishment in public and private schools in 1989. Jorgensen said that when he was going to elementary school in the late 1960s, the principal had a paddle in their office.

Mark Schneider, the superintendent of Mid-Prairie and Keota schools, said he doesn?t notice much difference in the way law enforcement handle school problems now compared to years ago. He said his staff are empowered to break up fights if a student is threatening the safety of others or his own safety. He said that his districts also have CPI training, which stresses that physical restraint is a last resort.

?A lot of the CPI program is about how to be proactive so you?re not in those situations,? he said. ?But once you?re in it, how can you diffuse it that doesn?t include restraint??

Washington County Chief Deputy Jared Schneider

Randy Schrader, dean of students at Washington High School, said that schools across the country became more interested in having a police presence after the school shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. in 1999.

?Everyone?s sense of urgency was up,? he said. ?In big schools, we had police and security in all buildings.?

Kim Denning, juvenile court officer with the State of Iowa?s Judicial Department, said that certain violations juveniles commit will stay on their permanent record. She said offenses such as curfew violations, tobacco possessions and motor vehicle violations (except indictable offenses such as drunk driving) are handled by magistrate courts and remain on the individual?s on-line searchable record. Denning said that law enforcement are in schools more so than they used to be, although she didn?t know why.