KERIK FAVORS SCHOOL-SEX LAW (Says failure to report cases of abuse should be crime)

Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik says too school officials are sweeping many sex crimes under the rug and that is why a law is needed to require staffers to report all incidents or risk jail.  Kerik told the City Council's education panel that this bill merely requires those responsible for the education of our children to demonstrate the same commitment to their safety.  Just hours after his testimony, police made sex abuse arrests at three schools.  Schools Chancellor Harold Levy said he backed making it a misdemeanor to fail to report incidents, but said he preferred that the principal, not teachers, be responsible for notifying the NYPD.

(New York)