Wednesday — February 25, 2004

Bill against school violence has Blaine County origins

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"This way, if there’s any threat, we can take them into custody on a misdemeanor. We can’t take it lightly … The point is, the threat was there."

— STEVE ENGLAND, Hailey Police Department school resource officer

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

A bill that could change the way school violence threats are treated in Idaho has its origins with a 2003 incident at the Wood River High School.

The bill, which is sponsored by House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, would amend Idaho Code to allow imposition of misdemeanor charges against anyone who threatens violence on school grounds.

Presently, it is only against the law if a specific person is threatened or if firearms or other weapons are discovered, said Hailey Police Officer and School Resource Officer Steve England, who helped bring the issue to Jaquet’s attention.

The House Judiciary and Rules Committee voted 15-1 on Monday, Feb. 23, to pass the legislation on to the full House for consideration.

The bill adds a clause to Idaho’s statute that says anyone who "willfully threatens to commit an act of violence on school grounds by use of a firearm, explosive or deadly or dangerous weapon…is guilty of a misdemeanor."

Last spring on the eve of Wood River High School’s last day of the school year, England said he received an anonymous telephone tip alleging that two freshman students were planning to take guns to school and planned to use them.

England said he went to the school the following morning and detained two suspects, but was unable to charge them with anything, despite numerous student testimonies corroborating that they had made threats.

"If they had named any certain kid, that would have been a crime. We couldn’t find any guns. That would have been a crime," England said.

The two suspects were finally detained when their parents signed documents stating that their children were "beyond their control," England said. They were then taken to the Snake River Juvenile Detention Center in Twin Falls, though they were not charged with a crime related to the school incident.

However, the threat was very real, England said.

"This way (if the amendment is adopted), if there’s any threat, we can take them into custody on a misdemeanor," he said. "We can’t take it lightly, even if they weren’t really going to do it. The point is, the threat was there."

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