Watchful staff, students key to safety, experts say

Increased security patrols, metal detectors and surveillance cameras may seem like a solution to school violence — but experts say that well-trained staff and communication with students are far more effective tools.

The fatal shooting Wednesday of a student at Tacoma's Foss High School is prompting schools to take another look at their safety policies.

Budget constraints have forced some schools and law-enforcement agencies to cut back school-security measures. This school year, the Seattle Police Department reduced patrols at Seattle high schools to once or twice a week — down from about once a day — to focus on other priorities.

Experts say human interaction is the best way to stop violence before it happens. A video camera may only record the violence itself.

"People are looking for some kind of physical, tangible evidence of heightened security," said Kenneth Trump, chief executive of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based consulting firm. "But the reality is, there's no perfect security system anywhere. The first and best line of defense is a well-trained, highly alert staff and a student body who can recognize a stranger in the parking lot or a student who is having problems."

Ron Avi Astor, a professor at the University of Southern California and specialist in school violence, agrees.

In most school shootings, "there were fairly large groups of students who knew the person had a gun, had the intent and made threats," he said. "It's extremely rare that a shooter doesn't talk to anybody about it first."

School killings nationwide have actually declined since the early 1990s, Astor added, but intense media coverage of each incident gives the false impression that violence is on the rise. He said the 1999 Columbine High School massacre heightened vigilance at schools around the country and likely prevented other tragedies.

Many details about the Foss High shooting, including whether there were any warning signs, are yet to emerge.

At Foss, there were three security officers — one armed, two unarmed — on duty at the time of the shooting, said Tacoma Public Schools spokeswoman Pam Thompson. They were likely not aware of what was unfolding, she added.

Thompson said the district does not have metal detectors but that in the wake of the shooting, Superintendent Charles Milligan has promised to look "at every possible avenue" to increase student safety, and that could include using detectors in the future.

In Seattle, every public high school and middle school has handheld metal detectors to check out specific threats, said Larry Farrar, a former Seattle Police captain who manages safety and security for the school district. Each high school has at least two security officers, and the middle schools each have one. Some high schools and middle schools have interior video surveillance.

Many schools monitor and support at-risk students, whether it's through regular counseling sessions or morning backpack checks. Schools also conduct drills that simulate a violent intruder or other attack; Snohomish County and Eastside schools, for example, regularly practice lockdowns. In 2005, Bethel High School in Pierce County spent several months preparing a full-scale shooting simulation that involved 200 students and law-enforcement SWAT teams.

Craig Apperson, program supervisor for school safety and security at the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, said that new schools are being designed without nooks and crannies in hallways and with better lines of sight in classrooms and playgrounds.

School-district officials point out another drawback to implementing more aggressive security measures — including various kinds of random searches — is the potential to violate students' constitutional rights.

"It's always a delicate balance," Apperson said. "You don't want to turn schools into these onerous places and have people think they are going into a correctional facility. Schools should be inviting."

Seattle Times staff reporters Lynn Thompson and Rachel Tuinstra contributed to this report.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com