School Violence Declines in Last Ten Years

Schools kids do a better job at keeping their heads in the books and out of trouble. That`s according to a national report that says school violence is down. In 1992, the nation`s students reported 48 violent victimizations out of every 1,000 students. In 2002, that number decreased to 24 victimizations per thousand students. Local schools say the especially violent years of the 1990`s served as a wake-up call to districts and communities. A drop in gang violence and an increase in non-violent programs have taken Little Rock schools from some of the most dangerous to some of the safest. "The pendulum has swung back the other way," said North Little Rock High School Principal Gregg Thompson of the schools north of the river. "We see more emphasis on safety and security." "It`s like comparing apples to oranges. School violence is not anywhere near what it used to be," said Little Rock School District Safety and Security Director Bobby Jones. During the 1995-1996 school year, Little Rock schools had 230 police arrests, 185 of them for misdemeanor charges and 45 of them for felonies. "Firearms were being confiscated each year in the teens, 15, 16, 19 handguns," said Jones. Last school year, there were 250 arrests. But most of them were for misdemeanors and only nine of them were for felony charges. Instead of drugs or weapons, schools have security camers and school resource officers. "There`s a lot of assets schools have now that 10 years ago we didn`t have," said Thompson. But the most important assets in school safety, are the children themselves, in need of safekeeping. "Biggest resource is educating the kids and letting them know that this is their school and they have to help us take care of safety and security issues," Thompson explained. Little Rock schools also say during the 90`s, the district steadily increased the number of school resource officers. But because of improvements in the violent crime rates, they have reduced that force by four officers during the 2001-2002 school year. Jones also says there may be more reports of incidents compared to the 90`s, even though violence is down. That`s because schools have also improved reporting and recording those incidents.