questions

Chapters 10-12

This week we read about school security issues, technological issues, and future security trends. These are important issues that we face in today’s society. Many could say that school security should be the number one issue do to the amount of school violence in recent years.

With school shootings slowly becoming the norm in America, it is important to place high priority when it comes to school security. Security officers that work in the educational institutions must be aware of threats against teachers, administrators, students, as well as the building itself (Maggio, 2009). When it comes to recognizing threats, they can be classified into four categories: direct, indirect, veiled, or conditional (Maggio, 2009). Direct threat gives a specific target and is executed in a straight forward manner. Indirect threat is a vague and unclear threat. Details of the potential threat are often nonexistence such as no clear motivation or target. A veiled threat implies violence but does not actually say it. Finally, a conditional threat is one that warns violence will occur if certain conditions are not met. Whenever a security officer responds to a threat, the way they approach will be different depending on the situation. Potential threats at a school include students fighting, bomb threat, school shooting, or possession of drugs or weapons.

Another issue when it comes to school security is cyberbullying. This occurs frequently between children in schools. Cyberbullying is using technology to frighten, embarrass, harass, or other wise target a minor (Maggio, 2009). The most common way to do this is through text messages or some type of instant messaging. In order to prevent cyberbullying, people must be told of unacceptable it is. There must also be consequences for cyberbullying and people need to learn to recognize the signs of a child being bullied.

The most interesting issue discussed in chapter 11 to me is the bugging issue. Bugging is intrusive surveillance whereby an eavesdropping device is installed in a target’s home or car. There is a strict regime governing the use of this investigative technique. The most common way of bugging is using an electronic bug. It is placed in a location in order to transfer communication from one point to another. Some potential ways to determine if a bug is being used includes have noises or volume changes on phone lines, electrical wall plates moved, or a small discoloration appear on a wall or ceiling. These could all be signs a bug has been planted.

Overall, this week we learned a lot about important issues this country faces.

LaShauna

The chapters we touched on this week were the issues that we are facing currently in today’s society that brings shame to our country. My favorite chapter, chapter ten talks about the school shootings that’s been going on constantly for over a decade now and it seem as though it’s just getting worse. Maggio mentions negligence in the school systems and how if the proper measures are not taken to prevent such things such as school shootings, bomb threats, and gang threats then they could end up with a serious law suit or even worse death on their watch (Maggio, 2009). I agree with this and believe that we are somewhat getting better at taking threats more serious since all the chaos has been happening in schools. Before the school shootings started we though of schools as a safe place and people were ignorant to the fact that nothing could happen on school grounds, but we have to realize that there is no safe place n this world and anything could happen anywhere you go and there has to be measures put in place just in case we come against a threat. Maggio also stated that many states now require planning to be in place at two major levels, on a school district or county level, and on a building-by-building level (Maggio, 2009). This is wise and the safes thing that we could possibly do to keep our children and the face of the next generation safe. I believe it would be in all of our best interest if every teacher and school security guard to take a class on recognizing threats, so they will be able to differentiate what is real and what is just being said because a student is upset. Teacher should also take a counseling class in case something like that was to happen, so they can know what to say when a student is upset and better help them evaluate if they will actually pose a threat to themselves or others.