Stop Bullying Now. Take A Stand. Lend A Hand.

Q&A with Rana Sampson & Randy Wiler

1. Should law enforcement be involved in helping address instances of bullying?  Under what circumstances?
   
   Randy: Yes, law enforcement can play a major role in bullying prevention. The mere presence of law enforcement officers in schools is a deterrent to crime and violence, including bullying. 
   
   In light of the detrimental effects bullying has on victims and government mandates to address bullying in schools, developing and implementing strategies to prevent these behaviors should be foremost in the minds of school administrators—and they should leverage the skills and knowledge of law enforcement to help them. 

   Three basic elements are required for a bullying incident to occur: a victim, a bully, and an opportunity. Eliminating those opportunities is the most effective way to prevent bullying in schools.

   These officers can help schools develop and implement strategies to identify, deal with, and prevent bullying behaviors. One strategy for removing the opportunity to bully is to identify those locations where bullying most often takes place, such as on playgrounds, lunchrooms, bathrooms, and hallways, and increase the level of supervision by school resource officers (SROs), D.A.R.E. officers, and even parent volunteers.

   Law enforcement can also intervene when bullying incidents are not addressed by the school. Unfortunately, school personnel sometimes do not always distinguish between bullying behaviors and other less serious levels of aggression. If school administrators are not adequately addressing a bullying problem, parents could also contact law enforcement for assistance.

   Rana: Absolutely. Law enforcement should be concerned with bullying in schools for a number of reasons. Bullying is likely the most underreported school safety problem, and police in many jurisdictions help play a role in school safety.

   We've learned that victims of bullying typically suffer a number of different harms, and for them, the school is not a safe place. Some bullying victims are victims of primarily psychological taunting, others are victims of repeated physical assaults. When partnering with schools on safety issues, law enforcement should inquire if there is a bullying reduction effort in place in the school.  While bullying reduction efforts require the school administrator's commitment and intensive effort, law enforcement can use their influence to 1) get schools to take on the problem, and 2) use their knowledge about what works to steer schools away from what might appear to be quick fixes and toward effective, research-based approaches.

   Many schools are tempted to adopt programs that are easy to implement and short in duration. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that these work. Similarly, a police officer working in a school and helping a bullied child will be tempted too to say to the child, "buck up." Parents may even tell that child to "fight back." It is important that a police officer know why these responses are ineffective, perhaps even damaging, and why a different type of adult intervention is required.

2. How can law enforcement officials be involved at the front end to help prevent bullying in local communities?
   

   
   Rana: One of the most important things that police can do to help reduce bullying is to encourage schools to begin to measure the extent of the problem.

   The U.S. Department of Justice published a guidebook just for police so they can learn about the consequences of bullying. The information is available free online at http://www.popcenter.org/problems/PDFs/
   Bullying_in_Schools.pdf. 

   It's important to know what areas/places/supervision efforts need to be strengthened. It's also important to know if your school has more chronic victims than average so these victims can begin to find some relief.  Police need to remind school administrators that there is no shame in having a school that has bullying problems. All schools do; the shame is in either ignoring it or not doing enough about it.

   Randy: To redirect bullying behaviors, we cannot neglect the family structure and efforts to prevent domestic violence. This requires a proactive approach in which law enforcement can play a strategic role.

   Children who witness domestic violence in the home often also bully others in school. And, sadly, they frequently perpetuate the cycle as adults who are violent in their own homes, producing another generation of children who bully in school.

   Law enforcement could work closely with domestic violence groups to help identify families is crisis from domestic violence and to open the lines of communication among victims, schools, social workers, and the courts. Through mandated arrest, abusers could be placed in court-ordered counseling. These efforts will all help break the cycle of domestic abuse and the bullying behavior it often produces.

3. Describe model programs for bullying prevention that have been successful in your community.
   

   
   Randy: The most successful program for preventing bullying in schools has been the Olweus Bullying Prevention program. I have seen as much as a 70% reduction in bullying behaviors in schools that have implemented the program with fidelity. The Stop Bullying Now! campaign materials are recommended for use as supplemental materials in the Olweus program.  These materials are great for classroom discussion starters and as a general resource for students, educators, parents, and law enforcement.

   Rana: We know the general requirements for effective school bullying reduction efforts:

   • First, there must be appropriate interventions to help individual victims.
   • Second, there must be appropriate interventions to counter the conduct of individual bullies.
   • Third, there needs to be appropriate interventions that take place on the staff/teacher/yard duty/cafeteria staff/bus driver level so they can teach, model and intervene appropriately.
   •  Fourth, there needs to be a school wide policy about bullying that engages the school and the parents and it needs to be reinforced.
   •  Fifth, schools should survey and continue to survey instances of bullying to provide a report card on how well an individual school is identifying areas where improvements are needed.

The Stop Bullying Now! Web site contains incredibly helpful material about bullying, such as the What We Know About Bullying Tip Sheet along with program information about the Olweus approach to bullying reduction, a highly tested and effective bullying reduction approach. Law enforcement can look to this Web site to keep up-to-date with information and resources to turn around bullying in their partner schools.

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Rana Sampson is a national problem-oriented policing consultant and the former director of public safety for the University of San Diego. She was previously a White House Fellow; National Institute of Justice Fellow; senior researcher and trainer at the Police Executive Research Forum; attorney; and patrol officer, undercover narcotics officer and patrol sergeant with the New York City Police Department, where she was awarded several commendations of merit and won the National Improvement of Justice Award. She is the coauthor (with Michael Scott) of Tackling Crime and Other Public-Safety Problems: Case Studies in Problem-Solving, which documents high-quality crime control efforts from around the United States, Canada and Europe. She is a judge for the Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing, a former judge for the police Fulbright awards, and a commissioner with California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Sampson holds a law degree from Harvard and a bachelor's degree from Barnard College, Columbia University.

Randy Wiler is a 31-year law enforcement veteran and served as the Chief of police for seven years at the Marysville Kansas Police Department. Prior to his appointment as Chief—he was the Undersheriff for the Marshall County Kansas Sheriffs department and had also served as a detective for that agency. Randy is the director of the Kansas Bullying Prevention Program and was one of the first 20 people in the United States selected by Dr. Dan Olweus to become a national trainer for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Group.

Randy first began collecting information concerning bullying behaviors in 1992 and began developing this presentation in December 1993.  He was featured in Good Housekeeping magazine in an article entitled “Kids Who Terrorize Kids”  and is the author of several bullying prevention publications some of which are featured in the national Stop Bullying Now! outreach by HRSA and the bullying prevention curriculum in use world-wide by the D.A.R.E. program. 

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