NCJ Number
194009
Date Published
September 2001
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This pamphlet informs police and school practitioners about what to expect when forming partnerships, explains why it is important overcome challenges, identifies sources of information that each can share, and identifies stakeholders that each can partner with to support school-based problem-solving projects.
Abstract
The COPS funded School-Based Partnerships (SBP) grant program requires law enforcement agencies to partner with schools to address crime and disorder problems in schools. Grantees use problem-solving techniques to better understand the causes of identified problems, apply analysis-driven responses, and evaluate their efforts. Law enforcement agencies select one school partner and analyze one of the following problems: bullying, drug dealing, problems experienced by students on the way to and from school, assault, vandalism, loitering, disputes that pose a threat to student safety, and larceny. Effective problem solving requires the collection and interpretation of data to inform project partnerships about the nature of problems and to generate appropriate solutions. Analysis is difficult because it involves activities that are often unfamiliar to police and school practitioners attempting to analyze crime and disorder. In order to effectively analyze a problem, practitioners should consider the following: ask relevant questions about the victim(s), offender(s), and location(s) during a problem analysis; identify existing data sources for questions; identify data needs and methods for gathering non-existent data; and integrate data and draw conclusions from it once it is collected. In order to make this a manageable task, it is important to take inventory of available data and determine additional data needs before developing surveys and other instruments. According to SBP grantees, the types of data the police agencies and schools can provide include: demographics, suspensions, GPA, criminal history, incident reports, and juvenile citations/arrests. Surveys, interviews, and focus groups of the school can be conducted to generate information not available in police and/or school records. A primary objective of partnering is to share the burden of crime problems among partners and appropriate stakeholders. Police indicate that certain partnerships are instrumental in developing a better understanding of school problems. These include students, school administration and faculty, bus drivers, school support personnel, parents, and local businesses. Successful partnerships require consideration and mutual agreement about the roles, benefits, and points of involvement of each partner.