SCHOOLS, POLICE URGED TO FURTHER BOLSTER SECURITY

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) -- Educators and police officers should strengthen
their relationships because schools potentially rank high on the list of
targets for terrorists, U.S. Attorney Strom Thurmond Jr. said Tuesday.

"Students, teachers and law enforcement today face potentially new
challenges from an enemy that values death over life," he said.
"Cooperation, communication, coordination are vital to our being able to
provide security."

Thurmond, who was named federal prosecutor last year, was hosting a series
of daylong seminars on school safety for police and educators in
Greenville, Columbia, Florence and Charleston this week. The sessions
examine the new threat of terrorism and the lingering troubles of drugs and
gun violence.

More than 400 police officers provide support and security in South
Carolina's schools. They know the signs of brewing trouble and give
students a positive role model, Thurmond said.

"Children cannot learn when they fear for their safety," he said. "I think
students and teachers alike in schools that have school resource officers
feel safer."

William Nettles, deputy director of the National Law Enforcement and
Corrections Technology Center, said school districts need to update crisis
plans to include bioterrorism. But bullies in the classroom will continue
to be the biggest threat to students' safety, he said.

"Let's work on the plans, concentrating coordination and technology to
address the day-to-day problems, and then when the big one happens we'll be
ready," Nettles said.

Spartanburg County sheriff's Capt. Tim Foster said school resource officers
give principals a tool to deal with disruptive students as well as criminal
activity.

Statewide, the number of students caught with a weapon increased from 860
during the 1999-00 school year to 875 in 2000-01, according to the state's
annual school crime report released last summer. However, gun offenses
dropped to 58 this past school year from 70 in 1999-00.

Drug cases jumped to 1,026 during the past school year, compared with 862
the previous year. Of those, 906 were drug possession offenses, up from 751.

Wren High School Assistant Principal Jack King said the impromptu visits of
dogs that sniff around everything from hallways to book bags have helped
deter drugs from campuses, but state budget cuts are hampering plans to
increase security.

"We're looking at some way to improve camera security," King said. "The
fear factor at our school is very low, but we want to keep it that way."