CONCLUSION
Ensuring that its youngest members receive an adequate education constitutes a noble goal of any cultivated society. An even more important objective involves children obtaining an education in a peaceful and secure environment, free from crime, harassment, and threats of any kind. While school officials attempt to create an atmosphere that fosters student progress,
too often school children fall victim to the same criminal element that afflicts the adult population. When this occurs, criminal justice authorities must intervene.

In San Bernardino County, California, the sheriff’s department, school authorities, the judicial system, and the community as a whole united in a common assault on juvenile crime. Operation CleanSWEEP began as a concerted bundling of retributive and rehabilitative elements in a school/police partnership to reduce danger and defiance on school campuses. It has shown students who flout the law that the community will hold them accountable for their aberrant behavior. However, instead of merely punishing the violators, the program provides them with the means of learning how to avoid repeating these offenses and encourages them to participate in healthy and productive lifestyle choices. Operation CleanSWEEP shows young offenders that their community values them and wants them to become respected, prosperous citizens. Such programs demonstrate how determined communities can reverse the bad news of school crime and violence into the good news of school security that keeps students safe and able to learn.

Endnotes
1 For additional information and help in replicating this program, contact Sheriff’s Training Specialist Clark Morrow at the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, Public Affairs Division, 909-387-3700.

2 Examples include disturbing the peace, possessing tobacco or tobacco-related products, petty theft, affixing graffiti, vandalism, and littering.

3 The sheriff’s department trains school staff members to recognize the elements of specific penal code violations and to properly complete a citation.

 

Sheriff Penrod heads the San Bernardino County, California, Sheriff’s Department.

 

Wanted: Photographs

The Bulletin staff is always on the lookout for dynamic, law enforcement-related photos for possible publication in the
magazine. We are interested in photos that visually depict the many aspects of the law enforcement profession and
illustrate the various tasks law enforcement personnel perform.

We can use either blackand-white glossy or color prints or slides, although we prefer prints (5x7 or 8x10). Appropriate credit will be given to contributing photographers when their work appears in the magazine. We suggest that you send duplicate, not original, prints as we do not accept responsibility for prints that may be damaged or lost. Send your photographs to:

Art Director, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy, Madison Building, Room 209, Quantico, VA 22135.

 
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