Police stationed in British school for first time

by NILUFER ATIK, Daily Mail

Police are being stationed in British schools for the first time, it emerged yesterday.

The measure is being introduced by Scotland Yard in secondary schools in the South London borough where ten-year Damilola Taylor was stabbed to death.

The first officer reported for duty last week at a comprehensive in Southwark.

Eventually all 19 state secondary schools in the borough will have a uniformed officer with their own office in the building. The officer will patrol both in and outside the grounds.

Dulwich College public school will also be included in the scheme, although police contact there will be limited to one morning a week.

Chief Superintendent Rod Jarman, the commander for Southwark, said yesterday: 'It's not a case of putting officers in schools to search for weapons and drugs. It's supporting the staff in a way that's appropriate for young people.'

Mr Jarman insisted children would not be stopped and searched and that the scheme was not a step towards the strict security that operates in many U.S. schools.

'We're not getting into an American model of security arches and security guards and police officers standing next to them,' he said.

'Our officers will be providing a service to young people who are vulnerable and having crime committed against them. We're trying to create a safe place for people to go to school.'

Mark Parsons, the head of Oliver Goldsmith primary school which Damilola attended, welcomed the move but claimed police needed to concentrate more on primary schools.

'By secondary-school age it is often too late,' he said. 'The trust isn't there. It would be better if the police were going into secondary schools with more trust in the first place, having gained some among children at primary school.'

The officers taking part in the scheme will recreate the 'front office' of a police station at each school. Teenagers will be able to report crimes, obtain crime prevention information and advice and have their property security marked.

The school beat officers will also hold 'crime and consequence' days to inform the pupils about issues such as drug abuse and street crime.

All heads in the borough have been informed of the scheme, which will be extended to the rest of South-wark's secondary schools from September 11.

Children's safety has been a sensitive issue in Southwark since Damilola's murder on the North Peckham estate last November. The case has not been solved.

Youth crime, often involving teenagers stealing one another's mobile phones, is believed to accountfor a 21 per cent rise in robbery statistics nationwide.

Research into child crime in Southwark shows 86 per cent of offenders were known to their victim.

Most watched News videos