By SUZANNE MARINO
Staff Writer
MARGATE – Anyone who thinks school violence happens someplace else never listened to Dale Yeager.
Brought in by the Margate Police Department to talk about the topic, Yeager cut right to the heart of the matter.
“If you think school violence is only about shootings, you’re wrong. There are 2.7 million violent incidents annually nationwide, and 73 percent of those incidents occur in suburban and rural school districts,” he said at a symposium on school security held at the Margate Performing Arts Center Wednesday, Jan. 31.
He does not point the finger of blame for violence in the schools directly at students. Yeager said inconsistent rules and lack of authority are often heavy contributors in schools that have experienced violence.
Yeager is a forensic psychologist, a security advisor, former high school teacher, and a man whose expertise has brought the FBI seeking his input in high-profile cases such as the first investigation in the JonBenet Ramsey case and the Columbine shootings. He is the president of Seraph Inc., a security consulting and training company.
Margate Police Chief David Wolfson said he heard Yeager speak about six months ago and wanted to bring him in to share his knowledge and experience with the department and with the school.
“We take school security very seriously,” said Wolfson.
The chief said he initially heard Yeager just days after the shooting at the Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania.
“When he asked, ‘Who in the room thinks that this situation could not have been avoided? Raise your hand,’ even I raised my hand,” Wolfson said.
“He told us we were all stupid because there is an opportunity to avoid a potentially violent situation. He had every person’s attention right up front.”
Yeager did not disappoint listeners at the PAC Wednesday morning, either, as he explained what he sees as the biggest problem in the schools and in police departments: breaking protocol.
“Protocol has to be followed 2 4/7 in a police department and does not change because it’s Christmas Eve or because it’s a hot summer night,” he said.
“Improper traffic stops are a big concern. Officers that follow procedure can nab someone and keep them from committing another crime,” Yeager noted. He rattled off a number of instances in which a criminal slipped through the department’s fingers because of an improper traffic stop.
Yeager called proper management the key to success on the job and in the schools.
“It is not equipment that keeps schools safe; rather it is management – human beings – that make it safe. We go into schools and take out cameras and instead put another school resource officer in place or more hall monitors,” according to Yeager.
“Violence is really people behaving badly.”
He asked members of the audience if they had an emergency plan, and most hands in the room went up. People were surprised when he called their emergency plans a “janitorial list.”
“Those plans are for what to do after a situation has occurred. But what they should do is to do the little jobs that prevent the big problems,” the consultant said.
“Use prediction and prevention as a means of managing behavior.”
He also encouraged the departments present to start looking for grants from the office of Homeland Security that could assist their town and their schools.
“The department just signed a bill on Tuesday, Jan. 30 appropriating $300 million for the hiring of new officers nationwide,” Yeager said.
His presentation cited statistics on the incidence and types of violence that students and adults fall victim to in schools.
For more statistics and information log onto Yeager’s website at www.seraph.net.
To comment on this article email Marino@catamaranmedia.com.
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