Trench Coat Mafia Copycats Rampant -- 04/22/1999

Trench Coat Mafia Copycats Rampant

22 April, 1999

By Dorothea Cooke
CNS Managing Editor

(CNS) – Washington D.C. area school officials are reporting a wave of students showing up at local high schools in long black trench coats and imitating the recent murder of 14 students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado Tuesday.

Dr. Ed Kelly, superintendent of schools for Prince William County, Virginia, south of the nation's capital, said several high schools, including Gar-Field, Woodbridge and Hylton, had students come to classes on Wednesday dressed in long black trench coats like the alleged killers at Columbine High School.

"We saw the students coming before they entered the building and teachers and security stopped them," Kelly told CNS. "We will not tolerate that type of behavior in our schools. We are very fortunate to have a school board that is willing to take severe measures in discipline."

Kelly said the students were told to remove the coats and go to class. "We had a few students who refused but most did (remove the coats) and they went on to class."

The students who refused to take off their trench coats were reported truant, Kelly said, and "they will not be allowed back in for the remainder of the year. A few of their parents complained that their children have a right to wear what they want to but they were sent home."

According to Kelly, teachers at each school reassured the students on Wednesday that they were safe. "After the students were disciplined, teachers talked to the others and told them they were safe - that our students feel safe is very important to us. At the end of each school year, we give the students a survey and ask if they feel safe and if not, what can be done to improve it. Based on their responses, we take action if needed."

Kelly said many parents have also called the school district concerned about their children's safety and have asked what can they do to help. "We have' talked to numerous, numerous parents about what has happened and what they should do," Kelly said.

A similar incident of students mimicking the Littleton, Colorado killers and allegedly threatening other students occurred at Mt. Vernon High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, also in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Mt. Vernon spokesperson Sue Ohlin denied any students were threatened and told CNS "that kind of behavior is not tolerated."

Frank Scott, a retired policeman and Safety and Security Specialist for Mt. Vernon, also told CNS that no students were threatened. But he added that said some students who attend the Mt. Vernon Center for special education did behave in a manner imitating what happened at Columbine High School. The Mt. Vernon Center specializes in teaching students with mental handicaps.

Some students reported being threatened by others wearing trench Coat Mafia-style gear, but Scott disputed the claims, saying that "no students were threatened and no one was wearing a black trench coat. We have a very strict dress code that is enforced. The students have been disciplined and they and their parents have received counseling about what happened."

Scott said what happened in Littleton "could happen anywhere" but he feels Fairfax County schools, and Mt. Vernon in particular, are very safe.

"I watched on TV what happened at Columbine and honestly was shocked out of my socks by it. I was very surprised by their loose and free environment, while I've never been in the school, those kind of things aren't allowed here," Scott said. He was referring to students wearing certain types of clothing to identify themselves with gangs or other groups and carrying cellular telephones and pagers.

"Here at Mt. Vernon, the group [Trench Coat Mafia] would not be allowed to demonstrate. We would have kept the athletes in check and not allowed them to wear white hats. I screen the yearbooks and pictures for any type of gang signals and if they contain any they are excluded," Scott told CNS. Reports from Colorado indicated that students athletes were among those targeted by the perpetrators of the massacre.

"We have been on a high security alert here and have talked to many parents and students," said Scott. "Parents are rightly concerned and I have told them we have a zero tolerance for that kind of behavior. If a group like the Trench Coat Mafia were to show up here we would immediately report it to the Fairfax County Police Department. I was very surprised at the lack of communication between the school officials and the police department in Colorado."

Although Littleton is thousands of miles from Mt Vernon High, Scott predicted that the incident will reach into the halls of the suburban Washington school. Scott said he sees school safety coming to a point where "cameras in the halls will have to be installed. I've asked for that before, but you run into resistance because of privacy issues. But I would like to seem added."

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