State guideline discourages arming school security guards

NORFOLK

The school division's policy allowing security guards to use pepper spray in student fights contradicts recommendations from the state's authority on school safety, which strongly discourages the practice.

"Do not use 'force devices' in interventions - weapons, hand cuffs, mace," states the Virginia Center for School Safety's training curriculum for school security officers. The center, which is part of the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, helps set guidelines and provides training on how school divisions should handle school safety, said Donna P. Michaelis, the department's public safety training manager.

Though it discourages pepper-spray use, the agency also gives divisions the discretion to decide which equipment their security personnel may carry. Norfolk approved pepper spray for its school security officers, or SSOs, in 1997 and reaffirmed that policy in 2004.

Still, the center states: "Caution to the SSO and school district: The use of 'force devices' is likely to incur major liability for the individuals using them and the school districts authorizing their use."

Norfolk Superintendent Richard Bentley said Wednesday that the School Board has decided to discuss the chemical spray policy at its Nov. 16 meeting.

"They want to understand the policy better, the safety and security issues and things related to that and see if they want to make a change," he said. Bentley, who has led the division since July 2010, said he did not know why the policy was adopted and reaffirmed or why Norfolk is alone among local divisions in equipping civilian school guards with the spray.

School security guards used spray three times between Oct. 19 and 26, intervening in a Lafayette-Winona Middle school cafeteria fight, a Blair Middle student altercation, and a Granby High incident in which one student tried to attack another. Pepper spray was used six times last year, 17 times in 2009-10 and 13 times in 2008-09.

Norfolk's policy requires its security officers to meet training requirements of the state center but provides that training in-house. Bentley said he did not know who developed the training program and did not offer any other details on the training.

No other South Hampton Roads school system equips its security employees with pepper spray. Other divisions say there's no need to arm security guards because their secondary schools already have school resource officers - sworn police officers carrying standard-issue police armament, including pepper spray.

"We felt there was little reason to go to the extraordinary expense of duplicating those services," Virginia Beach division spokeswoman Kathleen O'Hara said.

Chesapeake school spokesman Tom Cupitt said, "If our school administrators and school security officers cannot handle the situation, we contact the police."

Suffolk is the only local division that does not have school security personnel in its schools; it uses only police officers.

Norfolk has police resource officers at every high and middle school, and it employs the equivalent of 47 full-time school security personnel. It had 60 two years ago but shrank the force because of budget cuts.

In Portsmouth, security officers first use verbal commands to control situations, then physically restrain individuals as necessary, spokeswoman Maureen Mizelle said. "If a situation needs further action, the police would be called in."

Police officers working at Norfolk schools do not get special training for their assignments, police spokesman Chris Amos said, but their extensive police academy training includes pepper spray use - and getting a blast of the irritant in the eyes to appreciate its effects.

"Your eyes burn, your nose starts running," he said. "You're squinting, you can't see well, and for most people - not all - that will take the fight out of them."

The Norfolk police "use of force" policy tells officers to first use advice, persuasion, and then warnings to ensure public and officer safety. When police encounter physical resistance or a threat of harm looms, officers may progress to physical force.

Similarly, the Norfolk division's policy requires security personnel to use the minimum of force or restraint needed.

Its policy also allows the use of handcuffs and pepper spray when guards have reasonable cause to believe the option is necessary for the safety of the student they are used on, the guard or others in the school.

The bottom line is that guards and officers must weigh the consequences of how they intervene - and whether to use pepper spray.

With chemical spray, "some people could have a serious allergic reaction and you run the risk of some potential of lethality," said Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center. "Though here's the thing: How do you decide, when on one side you've got two students who try to beat each other to an absolute pulp? When do you intervene?"

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com

Pepper Spray / Handcuff Use in Norfolk Schools