Tag: marcus jones

Montgomery Co. school safety includes taking ‘a hard look’ at weapons detectors, officials say – WTOP News

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As the new school year kicks off, Montgomery County Public Schools officials share how they will be prioritizing school safety — including the use of weapons and vape detectors and increased collaboration between the school system and local authorities.

Montgomery County police and the Maryland school system’s new security chief say there will be more collaboration in the upcoming school year.

During an online briefing, Marcus Jones, Montgomery County Public Schools’ new security chief, said “safety is a top priority” for the school system.

Jones, who retired after nearly four decades with the Montgomery County Police Department, said that he’s in the process of talking to other school districts about their experiences with weapons detections systems.

“I think it’s something we need to take a hard look at,” said Jones.

He said the school system is in the “early stages” of examining how weapons detection systems could be used in the schools, but added, “I think it’s something we may be venturing into in the very near future.”

There are several issues that have to be addressed, such as budgeting and whether the systems would be workable at some of Montgomery County’s largest schools — including Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, which has an enrollment of 3,298 students.

“I think the overwhelming positive that we have going for us this year is communication,” said Montgomery County Police Acting Assistant Chief David McBain of the start of the new school year.

McBain said the role of the department’s community engagement officers (CEOs) hasn’t changed, but that police are coordinating closely with Jones and Superintendent Thomas Taylor to provide a safe school year “both inside the school, outside the school” and around the schools.

Currently, Montgomery County’s police department has 21 CEOs, “and we are actively filling a position for our 22nd CEO for Poolesville High School,” said McBain.

He said this year, all CEOs will have offices inside the high schools, but emphasized, “We are absolutely not patrolling the hallways.”

The CEOs are available to staff and students who may want to speak to an officer.

“Although we have a footprint in the schools, we do not take part in any of the discipline to students,” he added.

The first football games of the season are being held this weekend. McBain said there has been communication between the police department and the school system to “come up with good coverage of all of our games, not only for this weekend but for the entire season.”

Last year, a brawl broke out near the Bethesda Metro station between students from Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Walter Johnson high schools after a game between the rival teams.

Combating drug and nicotine use

Parents and teachers have complained about drug use and sales in and around school buildings, as well as vaping on school property.

“When vape detectors are installed, that will assist us with the usage problem that we’re having at some of our schools,” Jones said.

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Last month, the Montgomery County Board of Education voted in favor of a measure to use $2 million in funds from a settlement with e-cigarette maker Juul to install vape detectors in all the school system’s high schools.

During Wednesday’s briefing, Montgomery County Chief Administrative Officer Richard Madaleno said he expects that the school system will get the county approval needed to use that money to fund the vape detectors.

“I’m confident that the county council will pass the supplemental budget amendment that’s before them,” he said.

“We’re working with MCPD to talk about more intelligence sharing in regards to drug dealing that may be occurring around our schools and in the neighborhood,” Jones added.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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Kate Ryan

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September 4, 2024
Montgomery Co. schools see drop in ‘serious incidents,’ but bomb threats, weapons and trespassing are up – WTOP News

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The number of “serious” safety incidents in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland dropped overall last year, according to data presented Tuesday.

The number of “serious” safety incidents in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland dropped overall last year, according to data presented Tuesday.

But there was an increase in some categories, including weapons, bomb threats and trespassing.

At Tuesday’s MCPS Board of Education meeting, Marcus Jones, the newly appointed chief of security and compliance for the school system, shared data that showed there were 221 incidents during the 2023-24 school year where weapons were discovered, up 30% from the previous year.

There were 84 cases of false alarms and bomb threats — an increase of 11%. There were also 101 cases of trespassing on school grounds — an increase of nearly 14% over the 2022-23 school year.

There were two categories where the number of serious incidents significantly dropped: fighting and drugs.

According to the data presented Tuesday, there were 130 incidents involving fighting among students, a decrease of 17.7%. And there was a 27.2% drop in the number of incidents related to drugs.

Board member Brenda Wolff questioned some of the data: “The numbers for ’23-24, particularly fighting, that looks like an awfully low number to me, at least from what I can see on social media.”

Wolff said she was concerned that schools don’t report all incidents.

“I’m trying to understand what direction schools are being given,” she said. “Because I believe that a lot of them are not reporting to make themselves look better.”

Peter Moran, chief of the Office of School Support and Improvement for Montgomery County Public Schools, said he agreed with Wolff regarding that data point.

“When you look at that number and you think about the number of school days and what we’ve experienced, the validity of that is extremely questionable,” said Moran.

Wolff followed up by saying she believes that principals have to know that “they are not going to be punished as a school — if I could use that term — because of what’s going on in the building.”

Jones, who previously served as Montgomery County’s police chief, told school board members that one of the strategies he’d like to see to deal with serious incidents is an “all hands on deck” approach, where school staffers at all levels are increasingly visible throughout the school buildings.

The messages at all levels, said Jones should be, “It is my job, it’s your job, it’s our job to maintain safety and security in our school environment on a daily basis,” said Jones.

Jones said he wanted to take a look at different approaches to handling incidents like bomb threats.

“We discovered that many of these calls came from outside of Montgomery County,” Jones said. “They came from outside of the state of Maryland. And in fact, on a few occasions, they came from outside of the United States.”

Jones didn’t offer specifics on exactly how approaches to bomb threats could differ, but mentioned that current protocols could focus on levels of threat to determine responses that “minimize disruption.”

Jones also told the board, “I know there’s been a big issue centered around monitoring restrooms. We want to be able to be involved in that.”

“Addressing and reducing substance abuse is a major priority of mine as it was when I was Chief of Police,” Jones said at the meeting.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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Kate Ryan

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August 21, 2024
Montgomery Co. schools abandoned SROs 2 years ago. The schools’ security chief says new policies aren’t clear enough – WTOP News

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Montgomery County Public Schools moved away from school resource officers two years ago in favor of “community engagement officers.” So how’s it going?

From vaping, the cost of school supplies to cellphone policies, the WTOP team is studying up on hot-button topics in education across the D.C. region. Follow on air and online in our series “WTOP Goes Back to School” this August and September.

Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland moved away from school resource officers two years ago in favor of community engagement officers, or police officers with specific training who are assigned to a high school and patrol nearby, rather than inside the school.

The community engagement officers are meant to work with the school and respond to certain incidents inside the schools. They’re even allowed to have an office space inside their school, but they don’t roam the school throughout the day like a traditional SRO.

When Montgomery County schools entered into a memorandum of understanding establishing the community engagement officer program with a number of law enforcement agencies who operate in the county, Marcus Jones was chief of the Montgomery County Police Department.

Now, he’s on the other side of the agreement, as MCPS’ chief of security and compliance, and he told WTOP he’s looking to improve the program.

“I know for a fact that there’s been some confusion on some folks who are engaged in the process of really understanding what their roles are. So we want to make sure that is very clear,” Jones said.

More Back-to-School stories

The memorandum of understanding between the school system and law enforcement agencies lays out certain “critical incidents” in which the community engagement officer needs to be involved, such as death, rape, gang-related incidents and drug distribution.

However, Jones said that’s not the only time these officers should be in schools. While they aren’t meant to patrol the halls, he said they shouldn’t be afraid to step foot in the building.

“I think there’s been some angst about them actually being in the schools,” Jones said. “We do want to make sure that they have the ability to liaison with the school administrators and the security teams to make sure that information is being shared, and they have that face-to-face interaction with staff as needed.”

Jones also said that in some cases, high schools have either not provided office space to their officer per the memorandum, or the officers haven’t been utilizing space made available to them.

Making matters more confusing for the school system, Montgomery County’s police department is one of five law enforcement agencies involved in the program. The sheriff’s department, as well as Rockville, Gaithersburg and Takoma Park police, are also part of the memorandum of understanding.

“That’s why it’s important that we’re collaborating and bringing everyone together to make sure that there’s clarity in the agreement,” Jones said.

While he doesn’t have any specific changes ready to make to the memorandum of understanding, Jones said that in his first two months with MCPS, he’s now experienced the program from both sides and is ready to get everyone on the same page.

“There was confusion, and there was sort of a lack of collaboration, you might say, between the two systems coming together to make sure that we were doing what was set out to do. So that’s where I’m going to really work hard at trying to clear the air there in order for everyone to clearly understand the intent and what is the MOU — what does it state, and what’s permitted and what’s not permitted — so that there’s clarity there as well,” he said.

WTOP’s Dick Uliano contributed to this report.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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Thomas Robertson

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August 14, 2024
‘They saved my life’: Montgomery Co. police sergeant who lost legs in hit-and-run helps honor officers at awards ceremony – WTOP News

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Dozens of Montgomery County police officers were honored for lifesaving and heroic acts, among them a group that raced to help a fellow officer as they attempted to stop a speeding driver in October.

Dozens of Montgomery County, Maryland, police officers were honored Thursday for their lifesaving and heroic acts; among them was a group that raced to help a fellow officer as they attempted to stop a speeding driver in October.

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Montgomery Co. police police sergeant who lost legs honors officers who helped save his life

Montgomery County police officers Matthew Duerr, Julian Martinez, Nicole Seymour, Diane Burkes and Andre Smith were honored for their actions after Sgt. Patrick Kepp was hit by the driver on Interstate 270 last October.

Kepp, who lost both legs as a result of the crash and walks with the aid of a cane, stood on stage, giving hugs to each officer as their actions at the scene of the crash were detailed by Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones.

“I’m so grateful to be standing and be walking in here and be able to, you know, be up there on stage with them for all that they did for me,” Kepp said.

“They acted without hesitation and without fail and obviously saved my life.”

After the ceremony at Montgomery County Police Headquarters, Martinez told reporters while he appreciated the honor, his actions that night were simply a reflection of the training he’s gone through as an officer.

“Why we all signed up is to do the best we can to help out the citizens of Montgomery County and anyone that comes through it,” Martinez said.

During a ceremony at Montgomery County Police Headquarters, officers Matthew Duerr, Julian Martinez, Nicole Seymour, Diane Burkes and Andre Smith were were honored for their actions after Sgt. Patrick Kepp was hit by the driver on Interstate 270. (WTOP/Kate Ryan)

Seeing Kepp in uniform and walking is part of a greater recovery, Martinez said.

“I know in my heart that he’s going to do whatever he can to get back on the road and I have no doubts that he’ll get there,” Martinez said.

And that’s exactly Kepp’s plan. He’s still fully engaged in his recovery, he said, but eventually he’ll be back on patrol.

“Talking to my doctors and everything, everyone sees that there’s no reason that I won’t be back at work full time, doing exactly what I was doing,” Kepp said. “I’ll be back on the road, locking up impaired drivers” and trying, he said, to make the roads safe for everyone.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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Kate Ryan

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April 11, 2024