Criminal Justice in Montgomery County

In Montgomery County higher security measures to reduce school crime are not in full affect effect compared to other schools across the state. Students at Bethesda Chevy Chase high school are no longer required to wear student identification cards nor have they ever had to enter thru metal detectors, or experience random dog sniffs. When asked Officer Ray as to why the county is lenient on security measures at the school he stated, “The County feels this district is not in need of such higher security measures, and want to establish a sense of trust amongst the students.” Citation? Although BCC what is this? does not have drastic means of higher security, they take on other approaches such as having an Educational Facility Officer (EFO) on duty Monday thru Thursday during school hours and for extracurricular activities. EFO officers are county police officer placed on school premises to serve as a deterrent to students as well as build a relationship to allow them to feel safer while at school (Siegel 2009). Officer Ray also explained to me that he and his fellow officers use visibility throughout the hallways and within the community especially during lunch breaks since BCC offers open lunch. Being that BCC offers open lunch and the security officers have relationships within the community it allows the school to monitor truant students as well as those misbehaving. The community works with the high school in monitoring the students and knowing the school lunch period. Therefore if a student is loitering after 11:35, the business calls the high school and a security officer will escort the student back to school for his/her punishment as well as given a form of mediation. Mentoring is another way of reducing school crime which will be introduced to the students for the 2010-2011 school year. Officer Ray feels mentoring will be beneficial for students because he feels “a child can always be reached; it just takes a person with patience willing to reach out to a...