HOW CAN A DISTRICT ASSESS ITS SCHOOL SECURITY NEEDS?
As Peter Blauvelt (1987) states, “A school administrator cannot control unwanted and unacceptable behavior without timely and accurate security data.” He details a procedure for data recording, including a sample “Incident Profile Form” on which the exact nature, time and place of the offense, descriptions of the offender and victim, and actions taken by the school are recorded. Robert J. Rubel, director of the National Alliance for Safe Schools (NASS), has developed a “Process Guide” that adapts crime analysis techniques to the school environment, reports Valerie Smith (1984). Disciplinary infractions and incidents of crime are documented and coded according to parameters similar to Blauvelt’s. The data can then be analyzed “to identify patterns or trends and to develop intervention and prevention strategies,” Smith says. Using these techniques, Duval County Public Schools in Florida identified the noon hour as the time of most thefts. Shortening the lunch period and posting off-limit
