Parents across the nation, as well as those in Northern Nevada, may have been apprehensive to send their children to school following the deadly school shooting in Bend, Oregon on Thursday. The Washoe County School District wants to assure the community that their main priority is keeping students safe.
The district has its own dedicated police force, and their primary mission is to protect students and staff. They do so in a variety of ways including practicing for emergency responses.
“We do regular drills and compliance checks, again, aligned with not only state practices, state laws, but with our own Washoe County School District policies and procedures to ensure that our staff and our students are prepared, to an extent, to be prepared for some sort of emergency,” said Deputy Police Chief Eric Diamond.
Diamond says they are also continually evaluating their policies and responses for ways to improve and continue to provide the best protection they can. There are officers on every campus every single day, and they say it helps them create a relationship of trust with students in order to make them feel comfortable to report anything out of the ordinary.
“Anything that's received by Washoe County School District is reviewed and appropriately worked with outside agencies to address and determine whether or not they represent a legitimate risk or something that we need to respond to,” said Diamond.
There are multiple avenues to report to school police, including dialing 911, using the safe voice app, and calling their direct dispatch number.
Information on how to report, and the training officers undergo can be found here.
