 You know, when I was the chief of police, I had six men in my department work. In meetings of law enforcement officers and others who serve in the criminal justice system, a new topic is on the agenda, bullying. Bullying is just a euphemism for crime. When someone takes property, that's theft. When someone punches or hits someone, that's battery. When someone threatens or calls someone named, that can be assault. But yet in the sense of, just ignore it, we just think we've done our job. Officer Randy Weiler is the nationally acclaimed director of the Kansas Bullying Prevention Program. How do you empower the victim? Encourage peer group development. Understand the difference between conflict and abuse. Bullying is an abuse, not a conflict. Police officers and school resource officers from across the country call on Weiler to help them understand bullying. Please understand that children who bully others are far more likely than others to commit crimes, to batter their spouse, to abuse their children, and sadly produce another generation of children who bully. Now, how many of you have been in our business long enough to see the cycle? You were dealing with a young man, maybe, as a patrol officer. And now you're a sergeant, but this young man has grown, he needs father to child. And now you have the fortune or misfortune to deal with his son. Have you been there? Have you ever said you think the dad was trouble? You should see his boy. Have you been there? According to experts, bullying consists of repeated, aggressive behaviors directed by one or more children against another. Bullying occurs when there is an imbalance of power or strength. These aggressive behaviors may be physical or verbal in nature, for example, hitting or kicking, teasing or taunting. Or they may involve indirect actions such as manipulating friendships or purposely excluding other children from activities. Let me explain this. There's a power issue involved. You see, a bullying incident is not a conflict. And if we're not careful, we can confuse the two. A conflict is something that maybe happens one time. Does bullying, if it's bullying, happen one time? Or does it happen more time after time after time? And the imbalance of power is there. Someone is perceived as having more power. Not that they're stronger, bigger. It doesn't matter if they're stronger, bigger. They're physical size. They have more power. They may be able to have others that control others for them. And the negative actions can be physical, the punching, the hitting, the kicking, but they can also be non-physical. They can be the rumors, the gossiping, the exclusion, the isolation, very difficult to spot at times. Many have come to fully understand the consequences of ignoring bullying. Bill Christensen is the co-director of research for Fight Crime, Invest in Kids, an organization made up of those who serve in the criminal justice system who are dedicated to preventing crime and violence. The NICHD study found that those kids who bullied more often and bullied not just in school but outside school were seven times more likely to carry a weapon to school, seven times. And also, Dan Olvis found that the kids who were bullies in his studies were four times more likely to have three or more crime convictions by age 24. So these are the kids we need to reach early. If we're going to have any chance of reducing crime down the road. There are now 18 states that have officially enacted laws dealing with bullying. States here indicated by the color red. Policymakers in a number of additional states are considering bullying legislation. State laws vary somewhat in their definition of bullying and in their directives, but most require or encourage school officials to develop a policy to prohibit bullying. One of the leaders in this movement is Colorado and its attorney general, Ken Salazar. When you pass a law like the one we did in Colorado that says every school needs to have an anti-bullying policy, it makes a statement that bullying is not something that we are going to tolerate under our system of laws in our society. That it is not just playful behavior that should be accepted, but in fact it's behavior that can have very horrible consequences on the part of those who are the victims of bullying as well as the bullies themselves. Law enforcement officers such as Salazar are committed to reducing crime and creating safe schools and communities and bullying prevention is part of those efforts. It's important that we do everything we can to try to reduce crime and to try to create safe communities and bullying itself can lead to significant criminal activity not only while these kids are in school but also later on in life. Kids who are bullies in school are much more likely to become criminals in later stages of their life and so it's important for us to try to nip that in the bud while they're still in schools and there is some hope that we can get these kids into a track that is a better track than that of drugs and violence which often happens to people who are bullies in schools. Several resource officers and other law enforcement officials who want to work with educators on bullying prevention are encouraged to keep these tips in mind. Enlist the support of school administrators. A bullying prevention initiative can be successful only with the support of the highest authority in the school. To help convince administrators about the seriousness of bullying you may want to consider collecting data about bullying through the use of an anonymous student questionnaire. Collecting and mapping incidents of reported bullying at your school and encouraging the school to implement a bullying prevention program and be an active member of that program. Visit stopbullyingnow.herset.gov for information about such programs and tips about what to look for in selecting effective programs. Officials are also encouraged to be accessible to students and staff, get to know students by name and work to develop trusting relationships with them. Encourage students to come to you with concerns about bullying and other issues. Institute passive surveillance. Remember that bullying thrives in locations at the school where adults often are absent. Visit common hotspots for bullying and be watchful for possible signs. Create an anonymous reporting system in the school about bullying incidents. Many students are reluctant to report bullying that they observe. Create an anonymous reporting system that can help adults become more aware of bullying and can empower bystanders to take action. When Officer Weiler is sharing his lessons with other police officers he often uses an egg to demonstrate a point about a student who is bullied. So over time this person's self-esteem is damaged but also their self-image is destroyed. The way they look at themselves they begin to feel very empty and very hollow inside and that's a person that's usually crushed. Now many in law enforcement see preventing more broken and crushed young people as an essential part of their official duties.