Pinkerton's status as a for-profit company practically guarantees that WAVE will turn into a paranoia-spreading debacle. Even if WAVE begins with the noblest intentions, it has nowhere to go but down in the current climate of hyperprotective soccer moms and ineffective adminstrators.
School administrators, who are notoriously numbers-oriented, want to see results. The school principal doesn't want to hear that his investment resulted in only 20 innocuous calls for the entire school year. He wants a report detailing hundreds of dangerous students put away and three vicious plots to blow up the school foiled by his incredibly wise decision to bring WAVE to his campus. If Pinkerton does not supply the numbers, the administrator will drop the program.
Bean-counter tendencies of administrators aside, it is quite likely that in the beginning WAVE will be operated by intelligent, dedicated people with a sincere interest in helping schools and students. Or it might be operated by a bunch of incompetent fools, but I'll assume the best case for this argument (it winds up the same either way). If WAVE functions as a system for truly watching out for students--distinguishing false reports and following up true problems--the system will be helpful, but it won't produce high numbers. Despite what many believe, schools are not under constant siege from bombings and mass shootings--these events are rare. In most schools, WAVE will not find any dangerous plots at all. The principal sees WAVE's lack of results and decides the program just isn't catching enough troublemakers (after all, there MUST be a swarm of vile little teenagers planning all sorts of destruction at his school). WAVE is dropped, and the Pinkertons lose money.
After a while these losses begin to weigh heavily on Pinkerton--without swarms of reports and high-profile captures, WAVE won't catch on with school administrators. Pinkerton soon has a choice--cancel WAVE, or increase the numbers so the reports look better ("1,000 School Shootings Avoided Last Year Alone!"). And even the dedicated employees don't have much choice but to up the number of "captures"--if the program doesn't sell, their jobs are history. So even if WAVE starts with the best of intentions, it is going to degenerate to jumping on every false rumor and malicious report that comes in just to keep the program alive.
One could argue that it's in Pinkerton's interest to keep WAVE's reputation clear--that WAVE needs to have good PR in order to gain customer support. A program full of false reports is hardly good publicity. So, if Pinkerton wants to be successful, they'll make sure to protect innocent students and only pursue truly dangerous cases.
This would work if we lived in a world where soccer mom parents weren't harping on administrators to institute every harsh measure imaginable to curb the imaginary scourge of widespread school shootings ("imaginary" in the sense of being widespread). And bean-counter adminstrators don't help matters either--WAVE's success depends on how effective it is in making administrators look like they're curbing teen violence, not in promoting justice. Even if/when WAVE develops a reputation as bullying's greatest friend, it won't matter. Adminstrators pay for WAVE, not students. And Pinkerton does not risk much damage in reputation if WAVE becomes an inquisition--corporations that hire Pinkerton for security and employee background checks hardly care if a few high schoolers get hurt by WAVE (The little brats probably had it coming anyway).
What Pinkerton does with the information it collects is another huge concern--a for-profit company, especially one with an interest in background checks and private information, has no reason whatsoever not to keep information on students for later use. And even if students complain, they have no power--it's the administrators who decide whether to implement the WAVE program.
The only way WAVE can avoid these problems is to operate as a nonprofit agency--and Pinkerton is not suited for social work. A nonprofit organization has less pressure from schools and economics to bring in as many students as possible. Also, unlike a group run by a company specializing in background checks, a nonprofit group has no reason to hold onto personal information once the student graduates high school. Help lines should not be operated by the school, however--that's just an invitation for administrators and teachers to figure out which students to chase out. The ideal help line is operated by a nonprofit agency, destroys all files once a student graduates, and keeps its records private (giving schools personal information only in cases of immediate danger). WAVE has none of these characteristics.
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Pinkerton's status as a for-profit company practically guarantees that WAVE will turn into a paranoia-spreading debacle. Even if WAVE begins with the noblest intentions, it has nowhere to go but down in the current climate of hyperprotective soccer moms and ineffective adminstrators.
School administrators, who are notoriously numbers-oriented, want to see results. The school principal doesn't want to hear that his investment resulted in only 20 innocuous calls for the entire school year. He wants a report detailing hundreds of dangerous students put away and three vicious plots to blow up the school foiled by his incredibly wise decision to bring WAVE to his campus. If Pinkerton does not supply the numbers, the administrator will drop the program.
Bean-counter tendencies of administrators aside, it is quite likely that in the beginning WAVE will be operated by intelligent, dedicated people with a sincere interest in helping schools and students. Or it might be operated by a bunch of incompetent fools, but I'll assume the best case for this argument (it winds up the same either way). If WAVE functions as a system for truly watching out for students--distinguishing false reports and following up true problems--the system will be helpful, but it won't produce high numbers. Despite what many believe, schools are not under constant siege from bombings and mass shootings--these events are rare. In most schools, WAVE will not find any dangerous plots at all. The principal sees WAVE's lack of results and decides the program just isn't catching enough troublemakers (after all, there MUST be a swarm of vile little teenagers planning all sorts of destruction at his school). WAVE is dropped, and the Pinkertons lose money.
After a while these losses begin to weigh heavily on Pinkerton--without swarms of reports and high-profile captures, WAVE won't catch on with school administrators. Pinkerton soon has a choice--cancel WAVE, or increase the numbers so the reports look better ("1,000 School Shootings Avoided Last Year Alone!"). And even the dedicated employees don't have much choice but to up the number of "captures"--if the program doesn't sell, their jobs are history. So even if WAVE starts with the best of intentions, it is going to degenerate to jumping on every false rumor and malicious report that comes in just to keep the program alive.
One could argue that it's in Pinkerton's interest to keep WAVE's reputation clear--that WAVE needs to have good PR in order to gain customer support. A program full of false reports is hardly good publicity. So, if Pinkerton wants to be successful, they'll make sure to protect innocent students and only pursue truly dangerous cases.
This would work if we lived in a world where soccer mom parents weren't harping on administrators to institute every harsh measure imaginable to curb the imaginary scourge of widespread school shootings ("imaginary" in the sense of being widespread). And bean-counter adminstrators don't help matters either--WAVE's success depends on how effective it is in making administrators look like they're curbing teen violence, not in promoting justice. Even if/when WAVE develops a reputation as bullying's greatest friend, it won't matter. Adminstrators pay for WAVE, not students. And Pinkerton does not risk much damage in reputation if WAVE becomes an inquisition--corporations that hire Pinkerton for security and employee background checks hardly care if a few high schoolers get hurt by WAVE (The little brats probably had it coming anyway).
What Pinkerton does with the information it collects is another huge concern--a for-profit company, especially one with an interest in background checks and private information, has no reason whatsoever not to keep information on students for later use. And even if students complain, they have no power--it's the administrators who decide whether to implement the WAVE program.
The only way WAVE can avoid these problems is to operate as a nonprofit agency--and Pinkerton is not suited for social work. A nonprofit organization has less pressure from schools and economics to bring in as many students as possible. Also, unlike a group run by a company specializing in background checks, a nonprofit group has no reason to hold onto personal information once the student graduates high school. Help lines should not be operated by the school, however--that's just an invitation for administrators and teachers to figure out which students to chase out. The ideal help line is operated by a nonprofit agency, destroys all files once a student graduates, and keeps its records private (giving schools personal information only in cases of immediate danger). WAVE has none of these characteristics.
Darth Wally--The Cynical, Lazy Lord of the Sith