BENTONVILLE — Law enforcement officials have plans to increase protection at area schools in 2013 following the school attack in Newtown, Conn., earlier this month.
Bentonville Police Chief Jon Simpson said officers will do additional patrols of Bentonville schools starting Jan. 7 — the week students return to school.
At A Glance
Tips On Helping Children
Parental reaction in the face of tragedy or disaster is important to children, according to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Headaches, stomachaches, nightmares, bedwetting or acting out in anger can all be common childhood responses to traumatic stress. If needed, seek professional help.
w Safety first. Children need to know that parents, teachers and other caregivers will do their best to keep them safe. Young children may not realize a disaster is over or happened far away. Familiar routines, hugs and reassurances can help.
w Monitor your child’s exposure. Children cope better when they understand what is going on, but pictures and sounds from television, radio or Internet news coverage — even phone conversations — can negatively affect them. Use news coverage as a way to ask your child what she or he has heard and to explain they are safe.
w Talk with your child. Ask what they know and listen to what they have to say. They may not have a correct idea of what happened. Tell them gently, in language they can understand. Be a role model. Tell children being sad is OK.
Source: National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Kelley Cradduck, Benton County sheriff-elect, said he plans to propose hiring resource officers to patrol school districts in the county. The officers also would help build communications between schools and the Sheriff’s Office.
The Bentonville School District has three resource officers, said Superintendent Michael Poore. Two officers are stationed at Bentonville High School. Another officer rotates between the two junior high schools. The resource officers are Bentonville Police Department officers trained to work in a school environment.
The Police Department had officers onsite at a majority of city schools the week leading up to the holiday break. A strong presence will remain the first day students return from holiday break. Additional patrols of schools will continue following that, Simpson said.
“This is going to be above and beyond what we are already doing at the schools,” Simpson said.
Every officer on duty during a day shift will now be assigned or will assign themselves to a school for additional patrols, Simpson said. That could mean between 12 and 20 officers in schools every day.
“It will be a quality type visit,” Simpson said. “We are going to get out of the car. We are going to make contact with people. We will check the perimeter of the building.”
School visits could be between 15 and 30 minutes or longer or shorter depending on the workload an officer has on a certain day. Officers will log their school visits with the department, Simpson said.
“It is a different age,” Poore said. “When I went to school if we saw a police officer that meant something bad was happening. The positive thing for kids is that they see a police officer and they know they are there to help them.”
The community has been supportive of the Police Department’s efforts thus far, Simpson said.
“The day before school let out, I was dropping my kids off, and the officer doing the security was standing at the front greeting the kids when they came in,” Simpson said. “A little girl that was a kindergartener came up and gave him a pair of gloves and a gift card and said, ‘Thank you for keeping us safe.’’’
The Centerton Police Department has staffed Centerton-Gamble Elementary School, which is outside the Bentonville Police Department’s jurisdiction, Poore said. The Benton County Sheriff’s Office also has helped by having officers at Cooper Elementary School in Bella Vista along with several other schools in Bentonville.
“The dangers are very real,” Cradduck said. “The schools are easy targets. I think we could start a school resource officer program. It would be to work and collaborate with some of these smaller schools in the county to keep them in the informational loop. We want to make sure the schools are notified of any dangers in or around their areas so they have an idea of what to look for.”
The Benton County Quorum Court will have to approve any new positions proposed by Cradduck. Cradduck plans to bring his idea before the court in the near future.
“We also need to do training inside these schools for disasters,” Cradduck said. “I have had several teachers already approach me wanting training. I have asked our crime suppression unit to put together training that we hope will be complete by the first of February.”
Cradduck will encourage his deputies to do volunteer work at area schools.
“If we all did a little it should help a lot,” Cradduck said. “We just should not wait for another tragedy like that (in Newtown) to bring us all together.”
The Rogers School District has six school resource officers, said Keith Foster, public information officer for the Rogers Police Department. The officers are located at the two high schools and four middle schools, he said.
Rogers police will continue patrolling schools the way they did before the Newtown shooting.
“It is always a good idea to patrol the schools,” Foster said. “Our officers go by and try to check them a couple times a day. Officers have always been encouraged to get out and see kids.”