Addressing School-Related Crime a

INNOVAT

www.c

“When analyzing

assaults in and around

school grounds, one site

reported "the principal,

teachers, and parents

who work at the school

said that the children 

are sleep deprived, eat

poorly at home, and

come to school angry

and resentful. This 

leads to assaults, "acting

out", and disruptive

behavior. Using these

data, the school 

and police are

developing responses

that they hope will affect

the community and 

schools directly."

SBP National Evaluation

Draft Reports1

Interim Lessons from 

Problem-So

(Co-authored by Rita Varano 

of the Program/Policy Support and E

Community Po

Office of Community Oriented Policing Servic
p() gp

law enforcement agencies to partner with schools to address 

problems in and around schools. Grantees utilized problem-s

to better understand the causes of identified problems, apply 

responses, and evaluate their efforts. Ideally, to ensure mana

problem-solving projects, law enforcement agencies selected 

with which to partner and analyzed one of the following prob

 Bullying/threat/intimidation; 

 Drug dealing or use on school grounds including alco

related problems; 

 Problems experienced by students on the way to and 

 Assault/sexual assault; 

 Vandalism/graffiti; 

 Loitering and disorderly conduct directly related to c

safety;

 Disputes that pose a threat to student safety; and 

 Larceny.

With the advancement of community policing, police have be

with formalized problem-solving techniques. Although practi

comfortable and supportive of problem-solving, the concept 

by such activities as collecting and interpreting the meaning 

school-based problem-solving projects pose unique challenge

and school practitioners have operated very differently (or in

recently. This unfamiliar territory coupled with unfamiliar tas

more challenging than other problem-solving initiatives. As a 

to inform police and school practitioners about what to expec

partnerships, explain why it is important to overcome challen

sources of information that each other can share, as well as id

that each can partner with to support school-based problem-s
pg qp

inform project participants about the nature of problems and 

appropriate solutions. However, collecting data and conductin

to present challenges for practitioners attempting to analyze c

Why is analysis so difficult? Analysis is difficult because it i

that are often unfamiliar to both police and school practitione

to tackle school or school-related public safety challenges. In 

effectively analyze a problem, practitioners should consider t

 Ask relevant questions about the victim(s), offender(

during problem analysis;

 Identify existing data sources for each question and g

to those sources;

 Identify data needs and methods for gathering non-ex

(i.e., student surveys, focus groups); and,

 Integrate data and draw conclusions from it once coll

These practices are fundamental to problem-solving and facil

and it is critical to ask the right analysis questions and implem

collection strategy that builds upon the analysis questions. Fo

student survey that is intended to shed light on a bullying pro

limited utility if the questions asked are not tailored to inform 

participants about the nature of the problem, characteristics o

and the locations where incidents of bullying are most preval

important to limit the amount of data collected to those sourc

to the project. Experience has demonstrated that the right com

information sources that answer the critical analysis question

formulate an accurate picture of the problem and facilitate ap

selection. 

"Due to minimal supervision and a large student rat

as the hallways, cafeteria, parking lots, and student 

[spots] have high [assault] occurrence rates.....One 

considering staggering the release time of students b

10-minute intervals to ease congestion in hopes of d

opportunity for assaults to occur."

SBP National Evalua
q

In order to make this a manageable task, it is important to tak

available data and determine additional data needs before dev

and other instruments. Knowing the types of data an agency c

knowing how to gain access to the data, and involving person

analysis expertise improves this process. According to SBP g

of data the police agency and school can provide include:

Surveys, interviews, focus groups, and physical assessments 

can be conducted to generate information that is not available 

school records. The right combination of these new and exist

can help capture pertinent information about victims, offende

and help in defining the problem, its underlying characteristic

factors, and in the application of appropriate remedies. Just a

diagnoses a patient's illness before prescribing a remedy, poli

officials should carefully examine the various dimensions of 

intervening. More often than not, the extra steps taken to fur

problem lead to a successful intervention that targets the appr

population, victim groups, and/or locations.

"Over 75% of SBP grantees targeting the problem of 

students in and around schools identified the followin

as most useful in the order of relevance: student surv

reports, environmental surveys, suspension and expul

literature reviews, calls for service, and field intervie

SBP National Evaluat

Looking for technology to support school incident data collecti

Check out www.SchoolCOPSoftware.com to order your free 

and manual today!

Schools:

 Demographics

 Suspensions

 Attendance

 GPA

 Enrollment

 Dropout Rates

 Challenges at 

home (counselor

information) 

 Medical records

 Behavioral records

Police Agencies:

 Calls for serv

 Juvenile 

Citations/arre

 Criminal Hist

 Incident repo

 Time required

for a call

 Status offend

 Repeat calls 

specifically d

time call rate
py jpg 

problems among partners and appropriate stakeholders. This 

accomplished through partnerships with non-police entities th

problem-solving process in many ways. The most successful 

clear roles among participants with strategic goals and shar

many partners, internal or extra-organizational conflicts, com

and limited resources often challenge partnerships. Involving 

at the right time can reduce such challenges. 

Through grantee progress reports and conference surveys, SB

least twenty potential partners involved in police-school partn

services, neighborhood watch, churches, community centers, 

and universities. Police indicated that certain partnerships we

developing a better understanding of problems in and around 

include:

 Students: provide excellent input regarding the probl

they also tend to be more successful at retrieving info

Grantees also indicated that students should be includ

the decision making process. 

 School Administration and Faculty: can assist in po

well as providing program support and organizing pr

to the problem-solving effort. 

 Bus Drivers: provided intelligence for police and sch

supporting programs and providing feedback on resu

 School Support Personnel (i.e., security staff, cafete

can identify areas where problems occur most freque

 Parents: can complete surveys, provide support, and 

health issues (both physical and mental).

 Local Businesses: can provide intelligence, financial

political support.

Successful partnerships require thoughtful consideration and 

about the roles, benefits, and points of involvement for each p

generally helpful, partnerships may, at times, hinder the probl

and must be continuously evaluated and modified according t

needs. Similarly, every problem-solving activity may not requ

involvement. For instance, in some cases, partnerships might 

during problem identification, but crucial during response dev

another phase of the problem-solving process. Thus, the most 

partnerships are those that are appropriately planned and man
Data accuracy and availability: Project implementation dela

caused by students and school officials underreporting inciden

non-automated school data, data entry delays, procurement de

equipment implementation. Be sure to consider and prepare f

these possibilities when developing project timelines and anal

plans. 

The School Year: Recognize that problem-solving requires ti

detailed planning. Several sites recommend planning for inter

caused by school breaks and the summer prior to the assessm

Summer and school breaks inhibit the ability to collect data y

shorten the data collection time frame, and interfere with part

facilitation. 

Survey Implementation: Before administering surveys, agen

should inquire about state and/or local legal requirements

that govern the collection of information from youth populati

Local legal authorities and/or universities can be consulted fo

guidance in this area. 

Student Representation: Many sites report the need for and

advantages of involving students throughout the problem-solv

process, particularly in data collection and response selection

If gaining student involvement appears difficult, or if there is

overrepresentation of student types, agencies can involve stud

through official course work, such as civics classes or math c

as well as through various school clubs. 
COPS funded problem-solving resources include the Sc

Solving Manual, Tackling Crime and Other Public Safe

Information Systems Technology Enhancement Project, 

Evaluation of the Problem-Solving Partnerships (PSP) 

Innovations: Including the Community for a Change, a

Tips. These and other community policing resources ca

from the COPS Office web site www.cops.usdoj.gov or 

Department of Justice Response Center at 1-800-421-6

mailed to you.

In the months ahead, COPS will release a series of prob

publications including guides to analysis, assessment, 

disorderly youth. 

End Notes:

1. Through Cooperative Agreement number 19

WX-K005, the COPS Office funded 21st Ce

Solutions to conduct a National Evaluation o

School-Based Partnerships Program. Much o

information was collected from draft reports 

21st Century Solutions.

2. In Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999, COPS award

jurisdictions more than $30 million for law 

enforcement to partner with school entities to 

crime and disorder in and around schools. Th

School-Based Partnerships program is based 

problem-solving model SARA: Scanning, An

Response, and Assessment, and the majority 

funding was used for problem-analysis. All g

were required to attend training in problem-a

The information in this document was gather

grantee testimonies, grantee progress reports

staff reports, and reports from the National E
FOR MORE INFORMATION

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Community Oriented Policing S

1100 Vermont Avenue, NW

Washington D.C. 20530

To obtain details on COPS program, call 

U.S. Department of Justice Response Cen

updated Sep