Local law enforcement agencies have been asked to play an
increasingly prominent role in ensuring school safety. Youth
violence, gangs, and drugs are important issues not only for
federal and local policy makers, but for school administrators,
parents, and students as well. The community policing philosophy
has become a critical element to making schools safer in the
21st Century. State and local law enforcement agencies are
bringing community policing to schools: As of May 2002, COPS has
played an instrumental role in supplying more than 2,300 law
enforcement agencies with over 4,900 School Resource Officers
through its popular COPS in Schools (CIS) program. This program
is designed to assist law enforcement agencies in hiring new,
additional SROs to engage in community policing in and around
primary and secondary schools. This program provides an
incentive for law enforcement agencies to build collaborative
partnerships with the school community and to use community
policing to combat school violence. These