The discussion centers on the imperative safety measures implemented within Cobb Schools to ensure the well-being of both students and staff. Officer Pete Saxton and Lieutenant Mike Wilson discuss the multifaceted strategies employed by the Cobb Schools Police Department, emphasizing the paramount importance of preparedness in fostering a secure educational environment. They address various challenges, including external threats and internal issues such as bullying and substance abuse, while highlighting the role of community partnerships and innovative tools like the anonymous tip line. This dialogue serves as a crucial resource for parents and guardians, elucidating the measures in place to protect their children and enhance their educational experience. I invite you to engage with this vital conversation, as it underscores our collective responsibility in safeguarding the future of our youth.

Guests:

• Lieutenant Mike Wilson
• Officer Pete Saxton

Chapters:

• 00:00 - Introduction to Cobb's Shield of Protection
• 03:24 - Ensuring Safety in Schools
• 07:15 - Addressing Drug Abuse in Schools
• 09:41 - Understanding Substance Abuse and Its Impact
• 17:09 - Addressing Student Safety and Support Programs
• 20:27 - Cobb Shield: Ensuring Safety and Support

Useful links from the podcast:

• Cobb Shield - This page contains info about Vector Alert, a resource for reporting safety concerns.

Podcast Home:

https://the-inside-scoop.captivate.fm/

Cobb Schools on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/@TheRealCobbSchools

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Cobb Sports Podcast:

https://cobb-sports.captivate.fm/episodes

The Cobb County School District:

https://www.cobbk12.org

Takeaways:

• The Cobb Schools Police Department comprises approximately 80 certified officers dedicated to ensuring the safety of students and staff.
• Lieutenant Mike Wilson emphasizes the importance of preparedness in schools to foster confidence and reduce anxiety among students during emergencies.
• The introduction of specialized badges in schools facilitates rapid lockdowns and discreet communication for medical assistance without alarming the entire student body.
• The Safe Schools Alert system allows students to anonymously report concerns, enabling early intervention before potential crises arise.
• The Gang Recognition and Intervention Unit works to prevent gang involvement among students by fostering relationships and providing guidance.
• Programs like Breaking the Cycle aim to educate students about the dangers of substance abuse, particularly focusing on vaping and opioid misuse.

We're talking about Cobb's shield of protection over our children today on the Inside Scoop.

Hi.

Welcome back to another episode of the Inside Scoop.

I'm David Owen.

This episode is one you need to share with a friend.

Please let them know it's worth a listen if you agree after you've heard it.

When we put our children on the bus or drop them off at the school, we expect them to be kept safe.

Safe from a variety of things, everything from dangerous weather to drugs or bad guys trying to do us harm.

Our superintendent, Chris Ragsdale, takes this responsibility very seriously.

He repeatedly states that job number one is keeping students and staff safe so that teaching and learning can continue.

Helping him establish and maintain that shield of protection are looking Lieutenant Mike Wilson and Officer Pete Saxton, both from the Cobb Schools Police Department.

Gentlemen, welcome to the podcast.

Morning.

Thanks for having us.

Thanks for having us.

So, Lieutenant Wilson, let's start with just a.

A little bit about the Cobb schools.

PD you guys are your own police force.

A lot of people don't even realize we have our own separate police department.

Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you guys do?

Sure.

We are a separate police department.

We work for the school district of Cobb county, and we have the great privilege of working for Mr.

Ragsdale, who supports us.

We are about 80 officers strong, and each officer are certified police officers from other police departments.

We have an average of 25 years of service combined with all the officers on the department.

We can respond to calls as regular car police.

We sworn in, receive training from other places, and we have a multitude of different experiences that we bring to the school district.

Our main objective is to keep the kids and the staff safe.

The Cobb County School District, while working with other police departments to.

To enhance the protection that we can provide for our staff and students.

Officer Pete, as they call you in schools, you have a specific role in the school district that's a little different from your average officer.

Tell us a little bit about what your title is and what you do for our schools.

Well, for the district, I'm the emergency management specialist.

So what that entails is a big part of it is liaisoning with our outside partners, agencies.

Cobb police, Cobb Fire, Cobb 911.

We work very closely with all those because they are one the largest organization, but they're also the ones who provide most support for us if something bad would happen.

Yeah.

The other part of that is to liaison with our federal partners, our state partners.

It's more of a global view of the security and safety.

But it also allows me to go to the school level where I can help them do their planning, help them with their drills and those things to prepare them.

So it's kind of a global.

But it allows me to still go back and go into the schools and help them prepare themselves, but also prepare for something like require response from all of us, because that's a tricky thing.

They don't get to see it.

So we try to prepare them for what to expect if we have to come in and assist them on something larger than themselves.

Okay.

Now, I know that, you know, when we talk about law enforcement involvement in schools, first of all, those two worlds coming together in some form or fashion is a scary notion for a lot of parents.

Right.

Because the first thing our minds go to is an active shooter scenario.

That's a horrible.

I think Columbine was the first one that was on my radar.

I'm sure there may have been others in the past, but that was a definite turning point.

Right.

Okay, so how do you go about bringing a level of protection to a school where you've got staff and students that trying to learn?

It should be a happy place, a place of just freedom from concern of that sort.

How do you bring a level of security to a school environment like that?

Well, I think preparedness for them breeds confidence in them.

We've been doing fire drills forever.

Yeah, we do weather drills forever, but they're used to that.

They know what to do when they hear that announcement or notification.

We want our drills to be the same.

We want it to be normal for them to train for this, because we never want any of those things to happen, but sometimes they might.

We need to be prepared.

Preparedness really gives you some confidence, and it reduces anxiety in everybody, all the way down to the students when they know what to do.

The worst thing in the world is not to know what to do when you hear that alarm go off.

And don't you guys have a phrase that goes something like, you follow your training or what you practice is what you'll do?

True, that's exactly.

It seems to be the case.

So one of the things that I know that you guys have implemented is the use of these special badges.

Can you tell us a little bit about what those are and why they're necessary?

This badge allows us to lock down a school quickly, but it also, internally, it also allows the staff at the school to request administrator assistance.

Unfortunately, we see fights in a school.

That's just how life is.

We see it everywhere.

You see them at Walmart but it also lets them ask for assistance from administrators.

It asks for medical assistance.

We see it used a lot for medical assistance calls.

So that notification doesn't go out over the school, but it goes to those people who can respond to help.

Our first responder teams are medical trained people.

And this badge is used in a lot of schools to help do that.

And it's a special use of that badge that keeps it contained to the specific people within the school who need to know to be able to help.

It doesn't alert the entire school, so you don't cause anxiety amongst anybody.

It just alerts those key people that need to bring help.

And obviously, you don't just hand these badges to the school staff and say, here, figure it out.

I mean, it's very simple.

The training is very simple.

But we also want to present the context of when to use that, because it's a great tool.

But if you don't know when to use it, it's like having a toolbox that you can't unlock.

Right.

So we like to present the badges to them with training to what it does and then when to use it.

And it's.

It's early in its inception.

The technology is very sound, we found, which was very pleasing to us because, you know, sometimes technology is not always easy to adopt.

Right.

But once you get past that, you have to get to the training aspect because every person is different, every school environment is different.

So you kind of have to get used to how you can use it and how to help you.

Mike, people may recognize you from a video that we put together last year called Breaking the Cycle Combating Teen Vaping and Opioid Abuse.

And its primary purpose was on addressing some of the issues relating to drug abuse in schools.

Has that wonderful program resulted in things just being drug free now?

I doubt that.

Right.

Unfortunately, David, it has not.

And what we have to remember, as long as there's communities that serve our schools, kids are going to get those things from the community.

They're not developed in schools.

They're brought in from the communities, which is why we work with the local police departments, whether it's Cobb, Acworth, Kennesaw.

We do realize a lot of these kids are getting some of these items from people on the street, from the stores, when we speak of vapes.

And so we have to try to combat kids from getting it out outside the schools and bringing them into the schools.

And so there was good information that we put out the last program, and hopefully this one will drive the point even further.

One that the vapes and things, not only are they criminal, but they're bad for your health.

And I'm not a doctor, but we've seen some of the results of kids using these vapes and long term effects and it's not healthy.

But to the second point, using vapes, opioids, it's a criminal offense.

You gave an awful lot of good information in that program.

Let's take a quick look at what you had to share with us at that point.

Let's just say my daughter or grandson in the future gets caught vaping.

What happens?

Well, it depends on what she's caught with.

Let's say let's take nicotine first.

Let's take nicotine and marijuana.

Those are gonna be misdemeanor charges.

And from our officers, we're gonna, you know, initiate charges.

If they're an adult, they'll be arrested with an arrest warrant or they can be taken into custody to Cobb County Detention Center.

If it's a juvenile most time, we'll release them to the parents, but we will file a juvenile complaint form for a misdemeanor still.

Now, if it's thc, which is synthetic, it's man made, it's more potent than marijuana, those are felony charges.

And so we're trying to educate these kids.

That's a felony.

You know, that could mess up your entire career, your life, just for a smoke with THC in it.

So that was quite a great program to have all of you guys brought in to address the, the law enforcement side, a little bit of the legal, even though that's kind of outside your lane.

And then the medical community, we had some great folks from the Cobb Douglas Health Department addressing some of those things.

Tell us a little bit about the.

When we're talking about vaping and THC being in a vape, a lot of kids will say, oh, it's just fruit juice.

How common is just fruit juice of ape?

They say that, but actually the component in thc, which.

Well, the component in marijuana, which is thc.

Right.

The reason, and people have asked, well, why is it marijuana is not a felony, but THC oil is?

Well, it's the percentage of the THC that's pure.

And when the kids put it in vapes, that's pure thc.

Yeah, it is a felony when they are caught or they're using that, whereas marijuana, you know, the content is not as potent, if that makes sense.

Yeah, THC is causing, in our experience, it's causing more harm to these kids than they even realize than just, you know, all of it is bad for you, but the THC is really causing because it's more potent.

People of my era, our era, perhaps would ask that very same question.

What's the difference?

And it is far more potent, I guess, is the term to apply.

So, viewers, I would encourage you to go back.

We'll put the link to that program in the show notes.

Go back and watch that if that's a concern for your family.

There's a lot of good information, also information on opioid abuse, addiction, that sort of thing.

You can skip around to see exactly the part that you want.

But a really worthwhile endeavor we put together, if I may say so.

You know, in the old days, a bully and the concept of a bully used to be some big kid who would find the scrawniest kid in the class and threaten to beat him up for his lunch money.

Things are different now, really different.

So how do you guys deal with that sort of thing in the schools ranging from the, you know, the elementary size kids up through high school?

I mean, so you got gangs in some of these schools, right?

The gangs can be a problem, yes.

That's why we have.

We have a gang unit with Cobb School District.

It's called the Gang Recognition and Intervention Unit.

And it was created to just that, intervene.

When we see the signs of young kids or middle school kids participating in gangs, it is there for us to intervene and try to get them to understand the negative parts of being in a gang.

Because of that, we partner with the cage unit, which is carb gang unit, and we share information.

And not only that, David, we try to encourage the officers.

And that's why it comes into play.

To get to know the kids.

Yeah, get to know the kids, establish that relationship with them.

Because sometimes they'll talk to you and you can encourage them to stay away from those type things.

And didn't.

And I'm sorry to interrupt, but didn't you.

At some point someone told me that it's not as much a thing that gangs are just rampant.

It's that gangs exist and that kids who have a need for a sense of belonging are pretending to be in a gang.

Is that.

Yes, we see a lot of that.

And again, it's not to point fingers at anybody.

It's all of our issues.

But you're exactly right.

Some of these kids are missing something, whether it's at home or whatever.

And they're gravitating toward the first thing that gives them a sense of belonging.

And a lot of the older gang members they realize that the young kids are the ones that they are missing what it is they're searching for.

And so they are easy to incorporate them.

And that's what we're seeing in schools.

So as a result of that, not only do we encourage the officers to get to know the kids, get to know the families, we started a Concerned Cops program too, to try to reach.

Sure.

Tell us a little bit about that.

Well, this program was designed again to teach four main points.

One being know the difference between what's right and wrong and not to be afraid to choose the right decision.

The second one is every action that you initiate has a reaction, whether it's a positive one or a negative one.

Then third one, we try to teach these kids to be compliant, not combative.

Yeah.

What does that mean?

All right, so we use scenarios in school.

I'll give you a quick example.

Not take up too much time.

Young man walking down the hall with a hat on to school.

Now, is that criminal?

No, but he's walking down a hat in the hall with a hat.

Teacher tells him to remove the hat.

He refuses.

Teacher gets the administrator.

Administrator.

Young man, remove your hat.

Now, that kid knows it's wrong, but the kid then still refuses.

Now, at that point, it could become a police issue because now you have a disruption.

And so when the police officer gets involved, you like to think that the young man will comply.

The officer saying, come on, let's go, let's get out of the hallway.

In a lot of cases, they don't, Dave.

And so that it results in officer having to put hands on the young man, taking the young man.

And so he's made a bad decision as opposed to that fourth point.

If he realizes that he's been mistreated, comply.

And there are avenues to deal with the fact that you've been mistreated.

You don't always have to fight your battles, especially when you're dealing with authority, teachers, administrators and police.

So the program was designed to teach them and give them scenarios and not always believe what the media puts up.

Because the example I just gave you at the time the officer puts the hand on the young man, that's when all the video cameras come out.

And that's what everybody sees.

They don't see the whole scenario where this young man had a chance to do what was right.

Yeah.

So with that getting the officers to get to know the kids, establishing that rapport, then the gang Anti Gang Gang Recognition Unit, those are some of the things that we're trying to do to combat some of this gang activity and bullying and disrespect.

Yeah, And a lot of the de escalation stuff happens.

Like you said before, all the cell phone cameras come out and start recording.

You also have an alert line hotline.

Tell us a little bit about that.

Safe Schools Alert, the Vector tip line best practice.

We know from best practice that an anonymous tip line is one way that especially students that are maybe don't want to speak up to authority, they can go to that tip line anonymously, report something.

If it's a threat of violence, we don't see that a lot, but sometimes you'll see things posted on Instagram, Snapchat or whatever, and we'll see it that way.

A lot of what we see is students who are worried about other students, ideas of her harming themselves or those kind of things.

The tip line's anonymous.

If we get enough information about that student, we can get help for that student before a crisis occurs.

So we don't have to worry about the big thing happening because we've addressed it before the crisis even takes place.

And we've seen it occur with people, especially with suicidal ideation.

We've gotten enough information to get our counselors and our psychologists involved before they go into crisis.

And that's what we're looking for, because that's prevention, honestly, in the world today.

But it's a really good means to.

You can put tips in either over the phone.

You can send recorded.

We send a lot of recorded messages on the tip line that's sent through text or email.

So going to our website, the Cop Shield website, you can find the ways to get into that.

And there's an app that you can actually use.

Oh, wow.

You can give us as little or as much information as you want.

And then we go from there to try to make sure that that concern is sent to whoever needs to deal with it.

Because a lot of things aren't law enforcement issues.

They are just school issues that come up because there's so many people together in one place.

So we can get that to the people, the administrator, the counselor, whoever needs to see that, and then they can address it.

Yeah, and we receive those on our phone.

So we get them.

We get them all 24, 7.

They come in, we get those.

Oh, wow.

So if something critical comes in, we can deal with it.

If something I need help or my friend needs help, we can deal with that too.

So, like once a kid gets home and they got their cell phone and they're.

They're like out of view of their peers, they can let you guys know what's going on and truly remain anonymous in the process.

Exactly.

We don't know who they are.

We can't track them.

They are able to, through the app, communicate with us if they want, because we can reach back.

We can send a message.

If they want to reach out back to us, they can, but they don't have to.

So it's all done through algorithms through the app.

So we can't go back and say, hey, Jimmy is the one who sent this.

Yeah.

Well, that's really cool, especially since the latest generation is all about texting and messaging and that sort of thing.

And that's one of the ways that you guys set yourselves apart from the average police officer out in our community.

Not to disparage what they do.

They have a very different task.

But you guys are charged with taking care of and looking after the safety of staff and children.

And that expertise is something that.

Boy, we can't thank you enough for that.

There is actually a great deal more that our police force does to help everyone stay safe in the schools.

So to learn more about those things, visit the Cobb Shield page displayed on the district's website, which is www.cobbk12.orgcobbk12.org or in the link you can find in the show Notes.

So now that you've heard this info, please share it with someone else.

They need to hear what has been said today.

A lot of people think that everybody else's life is just fine, and you never know what they're going through in their families, so you may actually save a life.

Well, thank you for listening to this edition of the Inside Scoop, a podcast produced by the Cobb County School.