More Needed Than Just Metal Detectors : School Safety Strategies Must Have a Broad Input

The recent purchase of metal detectors by Buena Park schools--launching the first such detection program by a school district in Orange County--was a signal that parents and school officials are becoming increasingly alarmed about violence on campus. No wonder.

Since last September, there have been at least eight shootings on or near campuses in Orange County, and other parts of Southern California are facing even worse problems. In Los Angeles, two students were killed recently in separate highly publicized incidents. One of the schools, Reseda High, had just weeks before begun an innovative program of spot checking students with hand-held metal detectors.

Obviously, in this age of easily available weaponry, schools must do a better job of protecting students. Metal detectors can help. But they must be part of comprehensive school policies.

Metal detectors long have been used by many schools at extra-curricular events to prevent trouble. But George Butterfield, deputy director of the National School Safety Center, said that use of detectors during regular school hours still is rare. That is changing, however. More than 100 New York City schools now use detectors routinely. Schools in other urban areas are following suit.

Often--as in Los Angeles--detectors are purchased in the wake of a major incident, when parents demand fast action to better protect their children. But metal detectors may provide a false sense of security that could delay districts from adopting more thoughtful safety programs.

One of the districts closely watching Los Angeles’ metal detector program is Santa Ana Unified, Orange County’s largest. The district has a safety program consisting in part of school security officers, specially assigned Santa Ana police officers and policies such as automatic suspension for students caught with weapons. Because the district’s high school campuses are open in design, like most in Southern California, it is doubtful metal detectors would work that well in screening all students.

Still, the National School Safety Center suggests that detectors could be useful if they are part of an overall strategy of campus safety. Without requiring intrusive body searches, they can root out weapons hidden in book bags or in the baggy clothing now popular with young people.

One way to go is to have safety strategies developed by school officials alone. But, though more painstaking, it is much more effective to draw up a policy with the help of student groups, law enforcement, school counselors, prosecutors and others who have an interest in curbing violence in schools.

Among the elements that might prove useful are mediation panels to settle disputes among students; a hot line for students to report anonymously students who carry weapons; specially training security officers who can get to know students so as to glean information about hidden weaponry; clothing restrictions and see-through book bags so weapons can’t be easily hidden; psychological counseling for students involved in violence; home-room discussions or school assemblies; expulsion policies for students caught with weapons, and peer counseling.

It would be comforting if technology such as weapon detectors could do the job of making sure children can learn in a weapons-free environment. But that is not the case. Each school must address the problem and come up with a plan that works best for its campus.