It's a new school year for not only students and parents but Washoe County School Police too.
In 2010 "bullying" is at the top of the list of concerns.
A new law and renewed commitment to fight bullying has officers optimistic, but they say they can't do it alone.
Officer Jeff Redmond has been a part of the Washoe County School Police department for ten years.
Officers like him are assigned throughout the district to maintain a safe learning environment for students.
He says as the problem of bullying has grown, so has the effort within the district to fight it.
"It is one of our big concerns because that's what leads to a lot of the violence and different problems and attendance problems, bullying takes a lot of different forms and it's on the top of the list."
When it comes to bullying, school police take on several different roles. They investigate accusations, educate students and parents and when intervention is not working they can file a criminal report.
A new anti-bullying law that went into effect July 1st spells it out, bullying or cyber-bullying is illegal in schools.
"If the bully doesn't stop his actions, then because of the new law and all the steps we've taken prior to that it's easy to put a case together to send to the juvenile justice system."
The high school officers assigned to specific schools have an open door policy for both students and parents. Redmond says they want to know about any bullying problem from the start.
"A parent came in and said her daughter was admitted to West Hills(hospital) the night before because she had had enough and it turned out the bullying had been going on for weeks and months, she hadn't said anything to her mother or the school."
In that case, the bullying caused the student to become depressed but Redmond says some victims go the other way and become violent when they get pushed to far.
He says fights that break out often begin because of bullying that's been happening for some time.
Redmond disagrees with some parents concerns that the school district isn't doing enough to stop bullying.
"I would disagree. With my 10 years dealing with the administration when they get phone calls on bullying they take it very seriously and look for our guidance to do whatever they can to stop it."
Officer Redmond says the biggest obstacle the district faces in dealing with bullying is knowledge.
They need students and parents to contact them when a problem starts.
He recommends first contacting the school. School police will then be brought in to help if necessary.
But he also said if you are a parent who just wants some advice about how to deal with bullying, whether your child is the victim or the bully, feel free to call school police directly.
If a parent doesn't want their child to know they contacted school police about bullying they are happy to keep that confidential if it means getting more information that can help.
