School boards take on violence at sports events

“It is absolutely critical that we make our high school games as safe as possible . . . both for the students and staff who are directly involved and for all the spectators who come out to support our teams,” School Superintendent Eric J. Smith said in announcing new safety measures at sports events.

His stance is being echoed across the nation by school officials alarmed by a string of violent incidents at school athletic events over the past year. Among recent incidents:

• In Nashville, Tenn., four men were arrested last fall after attempting to bring firearms to a football game.

• In the Dallas area, a teenager was killed and eight were wounded by gunfire in a series of fights that followed local Friday night football games.

• In Rochester, N.Y., fighting in the stands forced the early end to a basketball game. Police reportedly had to use pepper spray to break up battling fans.

• In Sacramento, Calif., a fight in the stands among students and adults prompted police to clear football fans from a high school stadium. A gun was found in the possession of one teen who was arrested.

• In Montgomery County, Md., a 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death after a high school football game.

• In Greensburg, Pa., several fights involving fans from competing schools erupted following a basketball game.

Some evidence of just how serious sports-related violence has become can be seen in research conducted by USA Today and National School Safety and Security Services (NSSSS), a Cleveland-based consulting firm. The research identified 31 serious cases of violence at school sporting events in 2005, compared to nine in 2003. The number of injuries rose from seven in 2003 to 33 in 2005. At least four people died last year in sports-related incidents.

For school boards, these statistics suggest that more attention needs to be paid to security at games, says NSSSS President Ken Trump. He urges school boards not to assume that “security for these events has been handled by the administration because they see a couple police officers at the games.”

John H. Weicker, security director of the Ft. Wayne, Ind., school district, says districts have put emergency plans into place addressing security during the school day, “but extracurricular things have slipped by the wayside, and it’s catching up on some folks.”

To ease the security risk, school officials can start by paying more attention to the people allowed to attend sports events, Weicker says. Too often, schools admit people who could never gain access to school property during the day -- expelled students, gang members, and adults with a history of violence or criminal activity.

Not all potentially violent people can be identified, of course, but he says many potential troublemakers are well known to police and school officials and should be stopped at the stadium or arena gates.

Weicker warns that a tough admissions policy could lead to controversy if those denied access to a game all happen to be black or Hispanic. If complaints arise, he says, it will be up to the school board to step forward and take the political heat. “You’ve got to have the guts to face that,” he says.

Over the years, some school districts have come up with a variety of strategies to keep fans under control. For events where trouble is a possibility, some schools limit ticket sales to students enrolled in the schools playing and their parents. Others end the sale of tickets soon after the game begins and escort anyone loitering outside the stadium or arena off school property.

In Wayne Township, Ind., school officials follow an increasingly common strategy of separating fans according to team loyalties, says Chuck Hibbert, the school system’s security coordinator. As facilities permit, each set of fans use separate entrances, seating, con­cession stands, restrooms, and parking lots.

The goal, he says, is to prevent opportunities for irresponsible fans to use sports rivalries to stir up trouble.

In a few instances, however, school officials have shown a preference for playing games to an empty stadium or gym. Last fall, rowdy behavior by fans prompted one suburban New York school district to play some home varsity basketball games without spectators. Another district played its homecoming game in an empty stadium after a local resident member was shot in an incident in the hometown of the opposing team.

Other schools -- seeking time to implement new security rules after violent incidents -- have temporarily rescheduled Friday night games for Saturday afternoons or after school. A North Carolina high school opted to limit attendance to a homecoming game this fall to parents after rumors flew that kids were planning to fight.

In Denver, Edward Ray, chief of school police, says basketball games are one of his tougher security challenges because older gyms aren’t designed to separate crowds, and fans of opposing teams are more likely to mix in a very crowded venue.

Incidents at these games have decreased, however, because “we’ve flooded them with security,” he says. Metal detectors have been used at some games.

Lots of manpower and a high profile by uniformed officers are increasingly common in some communities. In Wayne Township, Hibbert assigned 30 uniformed officers, as well as undercover officers and T-shirted members of a local “dad’s club,” to staff a football game between popular rivals that attracted 10,000 fans.

Last fall, officials in Palm Beach County, Fla., fielded a similar number of officers, as well as a helicopter unit and mounted police, to a game deemed a high-security risk.

Some security officials say even heavy security becomes problematic at the end of an event, when fans spill out into the streets. At that time, police and staff also are stretched thin with the demands of traffic control.

That’s often when a jealous boyfriend or rival gang members choose to strike to avenge perceived wrongs, Hibbert says. It’s also the time when misguided youths and adults take the opportunity simply to stir up trouble.

“If you research some of the national incidents, very little violence occurs inside the stadium, within the bright lights,” he says. “Most incidents happen on the fringes of parking lots [or] in the streets surrounding the schools.” Such troublemakers usually don’t care about the game, experts says. They are there to settle old scores or just cause mischief.

That recently proved true for officials in Anne Arundel County, where a dispute over a girl led to a fight last month after a basketball game. Trying to escape, one boy jumped inside his SUV, only to be surrounded by three youths who began pounding on the vehicle. The panicked driver struck the youths as he drove away.

Although more manpower can help reduce such incidents, Trump warns that a potential problem exists when security expenses are charged to the athletic department’s budget.

“That means security and police staffing are in direct competition with profits at the gate,” he says. “Athletic directors aren’t always the best people to decide security needs.”