Starting a School Outreach Program in Your Community: An Effective Practices Outline for the School Resource Officer Approach Plus the Ten Most Commonly Asked Questions About School Resource Officers

• NCJ Number: 171066
• Author(s): J McDaniel; B Sullivan; E S Vasu; M L Vasu; S O'Brien
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 100 pages
• Grant Number(s): 94-DB-CX-0037
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Corporate Author: North Carolina Governor's Crime Cmssn
• Sale Source: North Carolina Governor's Crime Cmssn; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Research indicates that, in order to deal with both school violence and community violence, communities in North Carolina and elsewhere need to establish a comprehensive school outreach program.

Abstract

The school outreach program in North Carolina is referred to as a WEBNET, a program that combines the concept of a web to catch children who will otherwise fall through the cracks due to the diminished capacity of families to provide adequate socialization and the concept of a net as applied to networking. The WEBNET program is based on the use of School Resource Officers (SROs) and multijurisdictional task forces with representatives across jurisdictions from law enforcement, schools, courts, social services, and the community. The SRO is the basis of a comprehensive policy focus that integrates the SRO's function with the existing social network of the community. A well-designed SRO program represents a community policing effort. Guidelines for local officials who want to institute a school outreach program to combat school violence are presented, with emphasis on program planning, implementation, and institutionalization. Ten commonly asked questions about SRO's are identified and answered.