School Safety Recommendations

Attorney General Laxalt Releases School Safety Recommendations Following Special Law Enforcement Summit

Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt announced the issuance of his office’s School Safety Report following the March 14, 2018 Special Law Enforcement Summit on School Safety. The report draws from the recommendations and insights received from the Summit, a gathering of law enforcement officials, teachers, school administrators and security experts to discuss existing security gaps and changes that can be implemented to ensure the safety of Nevada’s schools. Held in Carson City and Las Vegas with more than 100 participants, the Summit was convened in order to collectively assess the vulnerabilities in Nevada’s schools and examine laws, protocols and security measures that could be adopted to evaluate and prevent threats to Nevada schools before they materialize, and respond promptly and efficiently to attacks when they occur.

“Our schools should be places of teaching and learning, not the site of violent crimes,” said Laxalt. “Just as I have done with Nevada’s sexual assault kit backlog, elder abuse crisis and opioid epidemic, I am proud to lead Nevada’s effort to bring law enforcement and others together to identify concrete solutions to Nevada’s existing public safety problems. I am confident that if Nevada takes these important steps, our schools and children will be safer.”

In light of the various themes that emerged during the course of the Summit, the report focuses on seven major topics relating to school safety. The categories include proposals to:

• Increase patrols by school resource officers, thereby reducing the tactical response time to any attack in our schools;
• Improve and enhance Nevada’s current technological system for running background checks and obtaining detailed criminal history information on suspects and assailants;
• Equip school buildings with modern safety features;
• Establish agile and efficient incident commands when attacks occur in our schools;
• Design effective active-assailant training plans and programs for law enforcement, teachers and students; and
• Evaluate potential threats to our schools more quickly and effectively by improving communications between teachers, school administrators and law enforcement officials; and
• Enact “red flag” laws which will reinforce mental health services and strengthen the ability of law enforcement to evaluate and address potential threats with a nexus to mental illness or domestic violence.

Within each category, the report makes two or more discrete recommendations. While some recommendations can be implemented immediately, others will require legislative action or long-term planning.

The Office’s School Safety Report will be submitted to Governor Sandoval’s Statewide School Safety Task Force and state legislators.