U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Bibb County Model for Community Policing in Schools (From Policing and Crime Prevention, P 83-104, 2002, Deborah Mitchell Robinson, ed, -- See NCJ-193592)

NCJ Number
193597
Author(s)
Michael Dorn
Date Published
2002
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses the proven approach used by the Bibb County, Georgia, Board of Education Campus Police Department to reduce crime on all the county's school campuses.
Abstract
In 1989 the reputation of the Bibb County Police Department was so poor that the regional police training center would not accept recruits from the department for basic training as recognized police officers, and the Georgia Public Safety Training Center would not allow the department's officers to attend classes. Yet, within a decade the department had thwarted six planned school shootings, one planned school bombing, and one planned double suicide; reduced student weapons violations by an estimated 90 percent; and reduced all criminal incidents on school property by an estimated 80 percent. The department has been widely highlighted as an international model for community policing in the school setting. Key components of the Bibb County plan include: (1) standardized reporting and analysis of school crime; (2) community involvement in problem-solving; (3) careful selection of department personnel; (4) intensive and continual employee development; (5) employee empowerment; (6) alignment with community expectations; (7) providing personnel with quality equipment; (8) a competitive salary and benefits package; (9) leadership of personnel rather than management of human resources; and (10) being open minded as an organization.