| JEFFERSON CITY - As another school year begins, Director of Public Safety Mark James urges parents, students and school administrators to utilize Missouri's statewide School Violence Hotline for the 2006-07 school year.
"The hotline is a prized resource that ultimately in combination with local law enforcement and school officials will minimize aggressive behavior in schools, which should not be considered a normative aspect of growing up," James said.
The Department of Social Services, through a grant from the Department of Public Safety, has established a statewide School Violence Hotline to help school districts and law enforcement agencies be aware of school violence reports as early as possible and to ultimately make schools safer.
Calls may be placed Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The information is processed into a database and then communicated via phone, fax or e-mail to the appropriate law enforcement agency and schools. It is then up to the law enforcement agency and school district to decide how the case will be handled.
Funding for the School Violence Hotline, first received in October 2001, is provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, Juvenile Justice Accountability Block Grant Program. Under the guidance of Gov. Matt Blunt's Juvenile Justice Advisory Group the Department of Public Safety administers the program.
Anyone with school violence information can call the hotline toll-free at (866) 748-7047.
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