Safeguarding the 279 Schools of Bergen County

On Thursday, March 21, 2013 I continued my committment to safeguarding the 279 schools of Bergen County, New Jersey at the Bergen County Police Chiefs Association's monthly meeting. It has been my privilege to serve this dedicated law enforcement association as the crime prevention/school safety chairperson for 10 consecutive years.

During today's remarks, I stressed the criticality of understanding essential U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education teachings on school safety and made key documents available for all. Attendees included police chiefs from throughout Bergen County, the Bergen County Education Association, associates, affiliates and guests from the U.S. Secret Service, DEA and the NYPD.

It has been my privilege to collaborate with law enforcement and school officials on numerous school, district and county initiatives in Bergen County. These have included board certified security vulnerability assessments, student/staff presentations, character education programs, professional development training and major events such as:

Transforming Our Schools: The Heart and Brick of School Security

On Wednesday, October 22, 2008, the Bergen County Education Association hosted a dinner presentation – Transforming Our Schools: The Heart and Brick of School Security – for 300 attendees at The Marriott in Teaneck as a follow up to the initiative that kicked off September 16, 2008.

As the keynote speaker for the event I addressed attendees including teachers, counselors, crisis management team members and administrators from throughout Bergen County as well as security personnel and law enforcement officials from the Bergen County Police Chiefs Association, Bergen County Sheriff's Office, the FBI, New Jersey Association School Resource Officers, and numerous police departments. The presence of educators, law enforcement and emergency personnel together at this event is a testament to the unity of effort among Bergen County, federal, state and local agencies.

The keynote focused on the current crisis of character in American society as well as ongoing school violence and safety issues.

PRESENTATION AGENDA

• Why Are We Here?
  • Creating an Effective Learning Environment
    
  • Compliance vs. Commitment
    
  • Transforming Power of a Teacher
• Culture of Gratification
  • Crisis of Leadership
    
  • Culture of Violence
    
  • Shattered Communities
    
  • Filling the Void
• New Jersey School Safety Review
  • School Administrator Procedures:
    Responding to Critical Incidents–
    Model School Security Policies
    October 2007
    
  • School Safety and Security Manual:
    Best Practices Guidelines
    December 2006
• Unity of Effort
  
• USDOE / FBI / Secret Service Document Review
  
• Reawakening the Heart of America
  • Progress and Priorities
    
  • Ingredients for Transformation
    
  • The Altruism Factor
• Character: the Heart of the Matter
  
• Call To Action
  
• Tribute to American Military
  
• Conclusion

Complimenting the presentation, all attendees received a library of school safety and character education documents as provided by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Secret Service including:

• Early Warning Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools
  
• Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Safe Schools and Communities
  
• Helping Your Child Become a Responsible Citizen
  
• The Final Report And Findings Of The Safe School Initiative: Implications For The Prevention Of School Attacks In The United States
  
• Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide To Managing Threatening Situations And To Creating Safe School Climates
  
• Character Education: Our Shared Responsibility

All attendees also received copies of my new book Listen To Their Cries through the generosity of the Bergen County Education Association.

The BCEA, under the leadership of President Joe Coppola, deserves recognition for its dedication to school safety and character education. This dedication will continue with forthcoming training on topics including crisis management, violence prevention, character education and strategies for working with youth.

READ MORE

Bergen County Education Association	Click here to visit site
New Jersey Education Association	Click here to visit site
New Jersey Association of School Resource Officers	Click here to visit site
NJDOE School Security	Click here to visit site
Bergen County Prosecutor's Office	Click here to visit site
Bergen County Sheriff's Office	Click here to visit site
Bergen County Police Chiefs Association	Click here to visit site
BCEA: Providing Leadership to Develop a County-Wide Safe School Model Part I	Click here to visit site

Crisis Management Leadership: New York City Fire Safety Director's

At the request of the Fire Safety Director's Association of Greater New York, I delivered a presentation on March 5, 2013 at One Penn Plaza in New York City.

The title, Crisis Management Leadership Principles, was delivered to 80 corporate safety representatives and New York fire officials. As highlighted in my presentation, crisis management is critical to society and those dedicated to its principles are to be commended for their efforts to protecting life and property.

Previous Crisis Management Initiatives

Crisis Management initiatives that cover issues of mitigation & prevention, preparedness, response and recovery is critical to security professionals.

On Tuesday, December 4, 2012, I delivered a keynote titled Crisis Management Leadership Principles for Hospital Security Professionals at Rockefeller University in New York City at the request of the Metropolitan Healthcare Security/Safety Directors Association, Inc.

As with my many crisis management initiatives, such as the one noted below for the Southern New Jersey Prosecutors, it was conducted to assist with professional development so important to the security profession.

A Note from the Prosecutors

Welcome to the 4th Annual School Security Conference. The goal of the conference is to educate law enforcement and school officials alike on the challenges of safeguarding our students and school personnel. School security issues are common to us all. We are all dealing with providing important public service with limited financial resources.

Against this backdrop, it is imperative for law enforcement and school districts to coordinate our efforts to deal effectively with the challenges facing us all. It is our firm belief that working together, we will keep our schools safe.

Respectfully,

Theodore F. L. Housel — Atlantic County Prosecutor
Robert D. Bernardi — Burlington County Prosecutor
Warren W. Faulk — Camden County Prosecutor
Robert L. Taylor — Cape May Prosecutor
Jennifer Webb — McRae-Cumberland County Prosecutor
Sean F. Dalton — Gloucester County Prosecutor
John T. Lenahan — Salem County Prosecutor

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These prosecutors of southern New Jersey held their conference on August 12, 2010 at Washington Township High School in Sewell, New Jersey with over 300 law enforcement, school and community officials attending. The speakers included:

• Sean F. Dalton—Gloucester County Prosecutor
  
• Jennifer Webb-McRae—Cumberland County Prosecutor
  
• Michael Pohle—Father of Michael Pohle, Jr., a student killed at Virginia Tech
  
• Vincent J. Bove—Leadership and Security Educator
  
• Paula T. Dow—Attorney General of the State of New Jersey
  
• Richard Norcross—Gang Awareness Authority

As a featured speaker, I was privileged to deliver a 60 minute presentation titled Transforming Our Schools: Reawakening the Heart of the Nation. The presentation integrated elements of school security, character education, academic achievement and community collaboration so vital to our schools and to the future of our nation. The metaphor of a head on collision with the culture of violence and crisis of character was utilized as well as critical New Jersey compliance issues. These included the Commissioner of Education School Administrator Procedures of Responding to Critical Incidents and Model School Security Policies:

• Active Shooter Response Procedures
  
• Bomb Threat Response Procedures
  
• Evacuation Procedures
  
• School Lockdown Procedures
  
• Public Information Procedures

The School Security Drill Guide for the State of New Jersey was also discussed since beginning November 1, 2010 all New Jersey schools must comply with various security drills aside from fire drills.

Critical documents from the U.S. Department of Education, Secret Service and FBI on crisis planning, early warning signs, safeguarding our students, threat assessments, character education and violence prevention were also addressed. Attendees were encouraged to work collaboratively and to implement programs through professional development, security vulnerability assessments and initiatives that encompass all elements of the community.

The presentation was complimented with copies of my newest book Listen To Their Cries which was sponsored for all attendees through the generosity of the prosecutors as facilitated by the leadership of Prosecutor Dalton. As with all of my presentations, it concluded with a tribute to the American Military.

The prosecutors are to be commended for their practical response to school security through this conference. It is an event highly recommended and mission critical to our nation and will hopefully be imitated through the leadership of prosecutors throughout the nation.

READ MORE

Listen To Their Cries	Click here to visit site
New Jersey Department of Education School Security	Click here to visit site
A UNIFORM STATE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN EDUCATION AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS	Click here to visit site
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT FAQs	Click here to visit site
Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools – August 1998	Click here to visit site
Safeguarding Our Children: An Action Guide – April 2000	Click here to visit site
Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and Creating Safe School Climates	Click here to visit site
THE FINAL REPORT AND FINDINGS OF THE SAFE SCHOOL INITIATIVE: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PREVENTION OF SCHOOL ATTACKS IN THE UNITED STATES – May 2002	Click here to visit site
PRACTICAL INFORMATION ON CRISIS PLANNING: A GUIDE FOR SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES – May 2003	Click here to visit site
Vincent Bove School Violence Blogs	Click here to visit site

Chicago Violence: An American Crisis

Chicago, our great American city continues making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Senseless recent tragedies include a 15 year old honor student killed on the streets who recently performed at President Obama's inauguration and a mother who just lost her fourth child to gun violence. This violence should outrage our nation from passivity to action.

Reprehensibly, the too little and too late response depicts not only a culture of violence but crisis of leadership. Are we doing everything possible to stop the carnage?

On October 6, 2009 I addressed this crisis with registered letters to President Obama, the U.S. Department of Justice and numerous officials throughout Illinois and Chicago. The response from the White House and U.S. Department of Education was off the mark with generic style self serving letters from these highest levels of government. The head on collision of America's culture of violence and crisis of leadership that I have presented for many years continues with no end in sight.

Calling On President Obama to Commit Resources to Stop the Violence in Chicago-October 6, 2009 Request/Blog

A 14-year-old boy was shot in the neck while walking to school in Chicago on January 12, 2012. One day earlier an 18-year-old was shot and killed. There is no end in sight to years of violence inflicting Chicago youth and hope is fading. I once again call upon President Obama to respond with full force leadership to this tragic epidemic. My initial request to the President on October 6, 2009 as documented here remains critical:

Vincent Bove Blog/Initiative Request to President Obama on October 6, 2009
When asked in an October 1, 2009 press briefing whether the President was going to address the Chicago violence concerns to the Olympic Committee, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs replied

"Obviously it's of great concern to the President, as somebody who lives in Chicago, but would and should be a concern for every American. This isn't a Chicago problem; this is violence -- youth violence is a problem throughout our country. The President is concerned and has asked that next Wednesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder travel to Chicago. They'll meet with officials from the school, meet with students and meet with the community to talk about the issues of school violence and youth violence."

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"Talking about the issues" is simply not enough. It is time for action; anything less is just more politically expedient rhetoric.

I call upon President and Mrs. Obama to establish a Stop the Violence Olympics for Chicago—nothing less than a full-force effort and allocation of resources equal to that of the effort and resources that would have been necessary to host the Olympics. If hosting the Olympics would have been worth the effort, then the saving of lives from senseless bloodshed is so much more worth it.

According to various published reports, over 500 students have been shot, more than 100 fatally, since 2006. Most recently, the beating death of 16-year-old Derrion Albert has captured the nation's attention.

AP Report 3 Charged in Beating Death of Chicago Student (1:28)

<a HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VwgGHrDdX0">Play the clip on YouTube</A>

These sobering statistics of violence and death in Chicago indicate a state of emergency and beckon an immediate collaborative response from every level of the government and community. The eyes of the nation must now turn to Chicago, not as a city preparing for the Olympic Games but as a city committed to transforming a culture of violence into one of opportunity and hope.

LETTER TO PRESIDENT AND MRS. OBAMA

October 6, 2009

President and Mrs. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President and Mrs. Obama,

Now that lobbying for hosting the 2016 Olympic Games is behind us, a more urgent task is at hand. It is time for an Olympian effort to end the bloodshed plaguing the communities of Chicago.

I implore you to make the elimination of violence in the windy city a top priority of your administration. If we agree that it would have been a worthwhile investment to prepare the city to host the 2016 Olympics, how much more is the value of human life? We must work to find a way to save lives, reduce hostility, and create a national model for the "audacity of hope" in all our urban areas suffering the scourge of senseless brutality.

So I propose that the White House declare a Stop the Violence Olympics for Chicago. As immediately as is possible, an organizing effort should be made on the same scale as would have been necessary to prepare the city for the Olympics. Resources from throughout government, private industry, and the local community must be brought together in a collaborative effort that will serve notice that violence will no longer be tolerated.

In addition, a torch should be lit in the city and remain burning as a reminder and symbol to all that we are serious about bringing change and hope to the affected Chicago communities.

President and Mrs. Obama, with the eyes of the nation and the world upon the devastation in Chicago, the time has come to stand with courage and certainty to answer the question "Can they stop the violence on the streets of Chicago?"

The only answer must be the same as the mantra of your Presidency—a resounding "YES WE CAN!"

Respectfully,

Vincent J.Bove

READ MORE

Beating Death Of Derrion Albert, 16, Caught On Video	Click here to visit site
508 Chicago Students Shot in 16 Months	Click here to visit site
2008 saw increased violence in Chicago, statistics show	Click here to visit site
CeaseFire The Campaign to STOP the Shooting	Click here to visit site
Google Search: Chicago Violence	Click here to visit site