BERGEN COUNTY—A countywide annual conference to be held Oct. 29 will focus on informing law enforcement and education professionals about mental health “best practices” for schools and address challenges including teen vaping, youth suicide, and enhanced communication with youngsters in middle school and high school.
For the 28th year, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office will present a Statewide Narcotics Action Plan (SNAP) conference to provide educators with updates on key issues that “intersect between” school and law enforcement officials, said Elizabeth Rebein, BCPO assistant prosecutor. The event will be at The Venetian, Garfield, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The goal of the annual conference is to help “forge relationships” between law enforcement and educators on all levels and get everyone on the same page working together, Rebein said.
The conference theme is “juvenile justice and youth mental health” and will feature updates from key law enforcement and mental health experts, she said.
School security update
Supervising Senior Assistant Prosecutor Martin Delaney, a member of BCPO’s Safe Schools Task Force, will update nearly 400 attendees on school security progress and dozens of recommendations put forth in a March task force report to improve school security, including active-shooter training, building security audits, and proactive mental health intervention.
“We’re looking to have a conference based on trends and issues affecting both law enforcement and the schools and also make sure that school personnel are seeing what we’re seeing that has an impact on them,” said Rebein.
“We want to have a conversation between education and law enforcement,” she added.
Threat reporting app
Delaney plans to mention BCPO’s upcoming effort to promote use of a free mobile app called LiveSafe, a threat reporting app that allows teens, parents, school staff and administrators to anonymously report individuals who appear to be a harm to themselves or others due to threatening words or behavior, he said.
The Prosecutor’s Office plans to “go live” Nov. 1 with the LiveSafe app, said Delaney, which allows teens, parents and teachers to text messages to BCPO’s Intelligence Unit. That unit will review and route the anonymous tips to appropriate law enforcement personnel for follow-up, he said.
During night and weekend hours, texts will be routed to Bergen County emergency dispatch center and handled by operators trained to assess such information and respond as necessary.
Delaney said the county “will be ready, willing and able to be the receiver of tips” from the LiveSafe app beginning Nov. 1.
Vaping impacts
In addition, the SNAP conference will feature David Nash, an attorney, to speak on creating a comprehensive school vaping policy and Sgt. Michael Klumpp, of BCPO’s Narcotics Task Force, who will offer details on vaping products, what’s being used by youth, and vaping paraphernalia that enables use of vapor products and e-cigarettes to be hidden from parents and school officials.
Delaney said while BCPO and task force members conducted trainings on active-shooter response, building security and mental health to school staff throughout the year “we heard from teachers that we should also be providing these training sessions to parents with a focus on the role each one can play in keeping schools secure.”
He said he agreed offering parent training sessions would certainly boost school security and that such training would be made available to parent groups as requested.
Once available, he said BCPO would promote parent training via public service announcement and social media posts.
“Parents need to know their role. I think that’s tremendously important,” Delaney said.
Mental health key
Rebein said the work done by the Safe Schools Task Force Mental Health Committee—to be prominently featured in a January 2020 task force report—will be explained at the conference.
In addition, she said, two school districts with innovative school mental health programs—in Park Ridge and Fort Lee—will be recognized and offered as examples of best practices.
She said funding sources and opportunities for mental health training and programs—a key Prosecutor’s Office focus throughout 2020—will be detailed for SNAP attendees.
“In terms of preventive measures, proper mental health in schools goes a long way to preventing problems from occurring,” said Delaney.
“We really think that addressing mental health in schools gives us the best bang for the buck, and it helps create better relationships between all of these groups. That’s the area we need to focus on,” he added.
Rebein said one speaker will elaborate on “crisis response canines” who go to visit schools after a highly stressful or traumatic situation has occurred. Another conference highlight will be honoring two school resource officers, BCPO hopes to recognize two SROs annually.