David Osman at The First NSSSC

November 29-30, 2007 - Over 300 participants are attending the First National Student Safety and Security Conference is being held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The participants have come from various sectors, including faculty and school administrators, law enforcers and first responders, safety experts and community leaders.

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Participants are having a chance to share their experiences concerning ways to promote safety and enforce security in schools. Through discussions, role playing, and various presentations, the conference organizers hope that participants will be able to develop an effective model to mobilize communities into working together to eradicate all forms of violence which have plagued US schools.

The most traumatic incident this year was the mass shooting at Virginia Tech. But there have been many other incidents of shootings, gang activity and other forms of violence. Some of these issues on various types of school violence and the safety measures that have been taken have previously been covered in Safety Issues.com (Safety Resource Officers for Safer Schools, Aug. 13; Connectivity Strengthens Campus Safety, Sept. 2; Sexual Misconduct Menaces US Schools, Oct. 22; Knives Used More in Campus Crimes; Nov. 3).

Top officials from the US Department of Justice are scheduled to deliver keynote speeches. A deputy assistant attorney general from the Office of Justice Programs will talk about “School Safety: A National Perspective,” while the director of the department’s Office of Victims of Crime will present an “Overview of Campus Violence: Stats, Reports and Studies.” These addresses will kick off each day of the two-day conference.

Presentations by experts on school violence will follow the two addresses. The resource speakers, discussions and role-playing exercises will cover a broad range of topics and issues, including:

• Prevention of violence by providing an environment of safety and nurturing in the schools and addressing the emotional needs of troubled students

• Techniques for assessing security and safety risks in campuses

• Assessment of security infrastructure in campuses

• Developing and testing emergency response plans

• Tapping the services of experts in emergency management

• Closing down schools during crisis situations

• Legal issues

• Post-crisis recovery

Case studies are being presented, to highlight new findings in studies on past incidents of school violence in past incidents of school violence. It is hoped that attendees will be able to develop effective and flexible action plans that they can implement in their own communities, to make US schools safer and more secure.
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More updates coming soon…