Death or injury of a child is a horrid thing. Many parents will do anything to protect their child from the violence of the world. In this case, the violence happens right before the child’s eyes, in a place intended to be a safe learning environment, school.
Ever since Columbine Massacre, schools in the US have greatly increased their security. Buildings locked, doors monitored, faculty and staff required to wear ID, metal detectors, cameras, strict dress code, and see through backpack are just some of the ways they have tried to prevent school violence. Other schools enforced anti-bullying policies, and zero-tolerance approached to weapons and threats.
Why exactly would a student, a child nonetheless, want to pick up a gun and kill their peers? Most of these violent offenders do not wake up one morning and decide to kill, rather they plan, plot, and acquire weapons in a mechanical manner. Whenever a school shooting or other act of violence occurs, people desperately search for answers. They want to know how such a thing could have happened, what caused it, if it was led up to by warning signs, and whether it could have been prevented.
One of the most common catalysts for the violent acts in schools is bullying and harassment by classmates. People who were bullied as children are more likely to suffer from depression, and the bullies themselves are more likely to engage in criminal behaviour later in life. This is why many schools are adopting a bully free attitude, cracking down on bullying and the bullies.
How does this relate to the police? The police are the ones who have to go into a school and deal with the children when school violence erupts. Whether it involves beatings, knife attacks, or shootings, school violence is a complicated and difficult issue – one for which there are no clear-cut solutions. Psychologists, educators, and law enforcements are continuously seeking better ways of identifying the root causes of school violence. By gaining a greater understanding of the problem, expanding public awareness of it, and learning more about the psychology behind violent behaviour, they hope eventually to find the key to preventing school violence before it happens.
