POLICE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

When Barry Hovis attended high school in Greenville, his reaction to police walking through the halls was negative.

"I always wondered who was in trouble," said Hovis, who now serves as a school resource officer for Cape Girardeau's high school and junior high.

Police officers at school are rarer now. In Southeast Missouri, Farmington, Charleston, Kennett and Jackson have police officers assigned to their schools. Dexter will have one when it gets the funding.

In Cape Girardeau, Hovis is entering his third year in school.

"It's less disruptive to have me here now because I've been here regularly and people know I'll be here all the time," Hovis said.

With increased police presence, parents and others tend to wonder what is happening at school besides reading, writing and arithmetic.

"People are asking the question: 'Are our schools so bad that we need police?'" said Rick Hetzel, Cape Girardeau police chief. "No. But we need to be proactive."

For Cape Girardeau, proactive policing in schools has meant more arrests, more drugs found on campus, but at the same time fewer fights.

Although exact figures weren't made available, Hovis said drug-related incidents had increased to about 15 in the last school year. One reason is a drug-sniffing dog visiting the school at unannounced times each month.

"In my situation, I look at this as positive," said Mark Ruark, assistant principal at Cape Girardeau High School. "One of the things happening as a result of this is that it makes us aware of who is bringing drugs to school."

But while arrests are up, fighting is down. In the 1996-97 school year, Cape Central had 58 fights, which ranged from heated verbal confrontations to flying fists, Hovis said. The next year there were 33 fights. Last school year, fights dropped to 18.

"His presence there serves as a deterrence," Hetzel said. "Kids think twice about doing something at school when Barry is there."

Hetzel and Cape Girardeau school administrators thought it was a good enough idea to expand. Patrolman Rob Barker will be a school resource officer this year. He will be based at Louis J. Schultz School, but his work will extend to all local elementary schools.

Rodney Barnes of the Jackson Police Department will begin his first year in the schools. Giving Jackson schools one officer to deal with will make police responses more consistent, Police Chief Marvin Sides said.

"We noticed that we were getting increased calls at all campuses," Sides said. "They involved things from littering to fights, but nothing major."

Having a school resource officer, or SRO, has taken school administrators where they haven't gone before, Ruark said.

"Barry has developed relationships with students that allow us to be aware of things that we have not usually been aware of," he said.

Examples of such cases seem numerous. One Ruark mentioned involved a gun incident two years ago. A student had brought a gun to class, and another student informed a teacher, who told the school administration.

The student who told the teacher had been in a class Hovis instructed on what needed to be reported to authorities.

Hetzel said Hovis is regularly approached by students with questions about the law and law enforcement.

Hovis, however, is careful about his relationships with students.

He recalled a white student who came into his office and told him she was pregnant, a black student was the father, and she was afraid of her own father's reaction. Hovis said he was a bit stunned.

"All I could do was refer her to a nurse or a counselor," he said. "I'm there in school to deal with criminal activity and behavior."

Hovis ultimately advised her that talking with her father would be best, because he'd know about it sooner or later.

Several teen-agers with criminal or personal problems have come to him, Hovis said. He generally has been able to give them options.

"When you get somebody coming to you, they're already looking for help," he said.

About four times, a parent has come into Hovis' office at the high school and thrown a bag of narcotics on his desk, explaining that it was discovered at home in the teen-ager's room. This is a tricky situation, but Hovis said he generally advises the parent where to seek rehabilitation help for the child. But if the drug amount was large or the student was a repeat offender, Hovis would make an arrest.

Certain issues are beyond the scope of his work, Hovis said. He confirmed reports last year of some students who were involved in worshiping witches and self-mutilation, but their activities were not on school property nor were they against the law.

"There's a difference between criminal behavior and behavior that's not good for kids," Hovis said. "Because some minor drank a beer three months ago, I can't take any action, but that doesn't mean that parents can't."

A similar situation occurred, Hovis said, when a student thought up his own cult, naming it "Bobism," after himself. The student encouraged others to give worship to him along with sexual favors.

"He said he wasn't trying to replace God, but he was something like a minor deity," Hovis said.

The parents of all involved, including the "minor deity," were informed, Hovis said.

"There's a lot of stuff occurring away from school," he said. "It comes down to the issue of how you choose to raise your kids."

On most days, Hovis figured he spends about 25 percent of his time in the classroom, speaking to students on various subjects. Another 30 to 50 percent is spent patrolling, and the rest is exchanging information.

The majority of problems Hovis handles end up in the principal's office, not the police department.

School administrators actually have more legal maneuvering room than police in school, Hovis said.

"I need probable cause in order to take legal action, which means it's more likely than not something happened," Hovis said. "The principal can act on something if he has a reasonable suspicion, which means it might have happened. The administration is the acting parents while kids are in school."

Although putting police in school is becoming popular, no guarantees exist that SRO programs will continue, said Police Capt. Steve Strong. At present, most SROs are funded with a combination of federal and local money. Schools generally pay 25 percent of the SRO's salary, while the rest comes from a three-year federal program.

In Cape Girardeau, the Kiwanis Club has picked up the 25 percent needed to pay for Barker's salary, but when federal money runs out, Hovis' school days might be, too, Strong said.

Police have never had to release officers whose salaries were paid through federal or state programs, Strong said. Typically, if they can't continue with a program-funded job, the officer is reassigned.

But whether this happens to Hovis, he'll at least be around for the class of 2000.

"I'm just working with kids to make a difference," he said, "so at least they can make informed choices."