After the Feb. 14 mass shooting in Parkland, Gloucester Township officials want to assure their residents of school safety precautions.
The following is a message from Mayor David Mayor and Gloucester Township chief of Police Harry Earle:
Dear Community Members,
In light of the recent tragic killing of students and staff members in Florida, we believe it is most appropriate to provide some information to you.
As you may be aware, the Gloucester Township Police Department has a comprehensive school resource officer program consisting of armed and professionally trained police officers. Gloucester Township police officers assigned to our schools often speak of the many positive comments and gratitude they receive from parents and even students while performing their duties at our schools.
It is important to understand that we believe that preventing an active shooter requires much more than an armed officer in a school. Such prevention requires a strategic combination of school resource officers, school security measures, formalized sharing of critical information between schools and their local police, community wide action planning for youth in need of services, appropriate screening of the possession of firearms by those experiencing mental illness and community members and students informing their school or law enforcement of any suspicious activity or alarming statements by anyone.
Gloucester Township police school resource officers have an important role of developing relationships with both students and staff in our schools. The officers participate in school emergency drills, learn the nuances of each school, provide suggestions and build upon the established relationships to help keep children safe. Such personal familiarization and input may be lifesaving in the event of an emergency.
One of the most important functions of our school resource officers is their role in being part of a larger community wide support system for students and families. Our SRO’s are members of the department’s Juvenile and Family Services Bureau, which encompass all officers who work with youth and families, including officers assigned to the Domestic Violence Unit and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
The Juvenile and Family Services Bureau facilitates the weekly Juvenile Unit Huddle, also known as the “JU Huddle,” where every youth in the community who has been involved with an incident both within the school or in the community is discussed. This includes those who have run away from home, have been truant from school, have had a crisis or mental health issues, have been subject to violence, including domestic violence, or has witnessed a parent/guardian or loved one be arrested. Such discussion regularly involves the development of an action plan for that child or family, which often involves the SRO, school administrators and staff, family or individual counseling at the Gloucester Township Police Family Resource Center and so much more.
In addition to sometimes formal professional counseling, the action plan may consist of very small but significantly important actions, such as the SRO or a school staff member seeing the child in the hallway and asking how they are doing. This simple process provides a level of comfort and reassurance to the child that is unparalleled in traditional school officer programs where the only goal is an armed officer in the hallway.
The development of such an action plan and such personal interactions are vital in preventing violence, keeping children safe and helping students succeed academically through a community-wide trauma informed care model. This Gloucester Township model has reduced first time offending youth recidivism by nearly 50 percent.
Of course, we know that such terrible violence can happen anywhere, and it is so important that all community members, including children, know they should and can report anything that causes them alarm or seems odd.
Anyone may report suspicious activity to the Gloucester Township Police Department by calling 911, (856) 228–4500 or the department’s anonymous crime tip line at (856) 842–5560.
To send an anonymous tip via text message to the Gloucester Township Police Department, text the keyword TIP GLOTWPPD and your tip message to 888777. You may also access the anonymous web tip page at local.nixle.com/tip/alert/5170177.
As the parents of children, we, too, have struggled on how to speak with our children about these horrible attacks at schools. We found this information helpful from the American Psychological Association: www.apa.org/topics/violence/school-shooting.aspx
Thank you for your partnership in policing.
Sincerely,
David Mayer
Mayor of Gloucester Township
Harry Earle
Chief of Police
