The North Carolina 2002-03 Annual Report on School Crime and Violence showed a drop in school crime on a state-wide level, but crime figures for Durham Public Schools increased significantly from the previous year.
According to the report, issued earlier this month by the Department of Public Instruction, the total number of offenses and criminal acts per 1,000 students in the Durham public school system jumped to 7.2, a large increase from 4.7 the previous year. Most of the activity consisted of non-violent crime such as possession of weapons or controlled substance.
The number of persons in possession of a non-firearm weapon on public school property almost doubled--going from 52 to 92 total occurrences--and there were 86 instances of persons in possession of a controlled substance, up from 47 in 2001-02.
Tina Ingram, DPS security coordinator, attributed the rising crime and violence reported in Durham schools to the increased utilization of existing security measures, such as walk-through metal detectors. Although no metal detectors were purchased for the 2002-03 school year, Ingram said that improved usage made enforcement more effective.
"We can't say for sure what the exact change in numbers was related to based on the number of searches," Ingram said. "[But] obviously if you're going to increase efforts to obtain weapons and controlled substances you're going to find more and I think this year we accomplished that."
All DPS secondary schools have walk-through metal detectors, although they are mainly used for special and athletic events, as well as random checks.
In addition to non-violent crime, there were 18 documented instances of assault in the district last year, including seven counts of assault on personnel, six counts of assault involving use of a weapon, three counts of assault resulting in serious injury and two counts of sexual assault.
Wake and Orange County public schools fared similarly; the average for both districts was 7.4 acts per 1000 students in the 2002-03 report.
On a state-wide level, the rate of school crime and violence per 1,000 students fell from 7.7 to 6.6. The bulk of the infractions took place at secondary schools--40 percent of schools in North Carolina reported no instances of crime or violence.
"We are pleased to see the decreases [in crime].... That means that the schools have truly considered the security issue and have included strategies that seem to be working," said Marguerite Peebles, instructional support chief for the School Improvement Division of the DPI. However, Peebles cautioned against being too satisfied with the decrease. "Any time you see any acts of crime and violence in school, there is cause for concern and we have a lot of work to continue to do," she said.
The DPI is composed of 117 local education agencies and approximately 100 charter schools. Although there is no blanket, state-wide school safety policy for all LEAs, every district is accountable to DPI goals--currently those goals include a two percent reduction in major crime areas each year.
Districts are charged with developing a Safe Schools Plan tailored to an area's needs to achieve the DPI's crime reduction goal.
Consequently, components such as classroom guidelines and expulsion and suspension policies can vary greatly from among LEAs.
Security measures as policies also vary from school to school within the district. "Security is not just about responding to an incident--at Durham School of the Arts we have different security needs than we would at Southern High School which is right downtown," Ingram said. "Location has a lot to do with security."
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