The fear of violence in schools is a major preoccupation for Americans these days. Since the massacre at Littleton, the shootings in suburban Atlanta, and a foiled plot in Michigan, millions of gallons of ink have been spilled in worthy efforts to figure out what we can do to reduce the risk of school violence: improved gun control, greater parental involvement, reduced consumption of violence- glorifying entertainment products, among other ideas. But the two most immediately practical steps have both come from New Democratic Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend of Maryland.

The first was her proposal to stop the nonsense of treating schools as "norm-free zones" by introducing an intensive Character Education curriculum at the earliest possible age. This is now a statewide practice in Maryland, and Vice President Al Gore has proposed to take it nation-wide.

Now Lt. Governor Townsend has proposed to build on a successful Maryland pilot program that places juvenile probation officers directly in schools instead of distant bureaucratic offices. The goal is to bring "juvie" right into the schools where kids spend most of their days and to focus on the kids most likely to commit violent acts--those who have committed them before. Begun at a cluster of nine schools in 1996-97, "Spotlight on Schools" has decreased school suspensions and dropout rates, and, most importantly, not one student has been arrested for new offenses.

In a similar pilot program in Fresno, California, firearm possessions in school dropped by 76 percent and assaults on teachers decreased by 58 percent. In both cases, the cause was obvious: someone with the ability to "violate" violent kids with serious penalties was on the scene, watching and talking, interacting not just with students but with teachers and administrators. Says one Maryland juvenile parole officer: "Before, a field officer would go and visit a school and would have contact with a kid about every two weeks. Now, with an office physically in the school, I see all my kids two or three times a week, if not everyday."

It's the same principle used in community policing. Law officers who are "in the community" can identify and intervene in patterns of behavior before they produce crime, and offer a visible presence that can deter crime.

That's why it is most appropriate that Townsend is expanding "Spotlight on Schools" to include many of the neighborhoods participating in her "Hot Spots" initiative, Maryland's successful effort to create teams of crime-fighters across the criminal justice system to focus on high-crime areas. The best place to fight violence and crime is in the community, not in the bureaucracy.