Friday, July 30, 1999
Be prepared for school violence, sheriff warns
Columbine was his teacher
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SHARONVILLE — Three months after a shooting spree that left 15 dead at Columbine High School, the Colorado sheriff who led the investigation said there is still “no textbook answer” for handling incidents of school violence.
However, he did have some advice. Speaking to 1,000 educators and police officers Thursday at Sharonville Convention Center, Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone stressed the importance of having an emergency plan in place.
But he warned them to prepare to improvise, because no two incidents are alike.
“You have to call it as you see it,” he said.
Sheriff Stone stressed prevention measures, suggesting that parents keep a closer eye on what their children are do ing. Schools should implement dress codes and install security cameras, he said.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who were part of a group that wore dark trench coats, committed suicide after wounding 25 and killing 13 in the April 20 school massacre.
“The core of this goes to the basic deterioration of the family. There's no secret that these kids — if you looked at their rooms — were up to something,” Sheriff Stone said.
“A standard kid doesn't have a sawed-off shotgun on his dresser and gunpowder, and things all over the door that would indicate that you have some type of rebellious child.”
He said schools also have a responsibility — to identify students who could be headed for trouble, and to deal with them appropriately.
The copy-cat threats that followed the Columbine shootings — here and across the country — should be taken seriously, he said.
“We have to punish these threats severely,” he said. “We have to stop this.”
Refusing to answer specific questions about the continuing investigation, Sheriff Stone said that detectives still aren't sure whether anyone else took part in the plan to storm the school.
He said charges could yet be filed against the parents of Messrs. Harris and Klebold. They have refused to talk to investigators about how much they knew about their sons' activities.
In the only arrests in the case, two Colorado men have been charged with supplying a gun to the teens.
Sheriff Stone's appearance in Sharonville was part of a two-day seminar on “Juvenile Violence in Our Schools,” sponsored by the Tri-State Regional Community Policing Institute and the FBI. The event concluded Thursday.
Special Agent Ed Boldt, of the FBI's Cincinnati office, said the overwhelming response to the seminar was unexpected. It drew many out-of-state teachers, administrators and police.
Many were denied registration after the first-time seminar grew from 300 to 1,000 participants, a full house for the convention center, he said.
“We could have had many more,” he said. “I have no idea how many we turned down. But we're already getting requests to put on another one.”
That won't happen any time soon, he said, because of the planning involved.
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