What does it take to keep school sporting events safe? I-Team finds out
CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has uncovered how much has to be done in order to protect your family at high school sporting events.
Gunfire, fights and other trouble happen so often that they are no longer rare.
Just a couple of months ago, gunshots rang out on the streets near Euclid High School not long after a football game had ended. That left five teens shot and one killed.
And, weeks ago, on Cleveland's east side, kids and parents all were involved in a fight on the field after a football game
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We've found school sports now require a new strategy: more planning, more police and more work to keep the peace. From the sidelines, to the stands, to the streets.
After that shooting in Euclid, one teen victim showed us his gunshot wound in a leg, saying, "the bullet went in and went up. It happened so fast."
"You don't expect those kinds of calls. Your kids need to come home safely," his father said.
So, we reached out to Dr. Ken Trump. He runs National School Safety and Security Services, a national school safety consulting firm based in Cleveland.
"School officials need to get down in the weeds. Do the planning. Get into the details of security," he said.
Dr. Trump says what's happening in Northeast Ohio is part of a national trend — more violence and other trouble surrounding school events.
"We're really at a point where we're running school athletic events and special entertainment events at the same level of thought that you have to give to professional sports and professional entertainment venues. Ticket-taking procedures, security screening, in-and-out protocols, supervision, police, security," he said.
Cleveland City Councilman Richard Starr told the I-Team he recently found himself trying to stop a fight on a field after a city high school football game. That fight even involved parents.
"I was in the middle of it helping, breaking up fights," he said. "I don't believe there's enough security officers detail in place. It's disrespectful, unsafe, a hazard, an incident waiting to happen. Leadership must really look into this and figure out a solution."
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The councilman fired off a memo to the head of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District demanding new safety measures.
We contacted the district, and we received a statement about punishment for troublemakers at games and a new fan code of conduct in the works. But, no mention of specific new safety action.
City council plans to hold a hearing soon about safety at school events.
"It's bigger than just these games," Euclid Police Chief Scott Meyer said.
Euclid police say they've now developed a plan for school events that also involves special patrols in nearby neighborhoods. He stressed that the last several sporting events were held without any issues. "After these events, it becomes a little more complicated when people start to spill out into public areas. So, that becomes more of a challenge. But, we have plans in place to address that," the chief said.
Euclid police say part of those plans involves using grant money to pay for overtime, adding officers dedicated specifically to patrolling and finding suspects with guns.
"Two, three, four, five, six officers can work this a night, and they can go ahead and immediately affect the number of illicit weapons on the streets," Captain Mitch Houser said. "Parents need to recognize school sporting events are not free babysitters," Dr. Trump said.
He added that parents can't just drop kids off at these events and forget about them.
School sporting events now require a security plan even far from the field.
