By Sheila Mckenzie-
The call for police officers to be stationed in high problem schools is a good idea because it gives pupils a greater assurance of safety.
The presence of officers on school premises will not guarantee a hundred percent safety, but it will provide a much needed deterrence to criminal activity. It will also deter drop out youths that lurk around schools influencing impressionable teenagers negatively. Knife carrying and drug use is rife in many schools and works against the efforts of ambitious teachers who have set high standards for their students.
Mps have called for police to be in schools.The Home Affairs Committee criticised the government’s current violence reduction strategy as “completely inadequate. report, The committee’s report called for more investment into neighbourhood policing – including a commitment to get a dedicated police officer into “all schools in areas with an above-average risk of serious youth violence” by April 2020.
Police officers will more readily be able to prevent a fight that could turn dangerous, or catch wind of information about dangerous students or their unruly associates who may frequent the surroundings of certain schools during or after school hours. The frequency of knife attacks among youths is enough reason for an increased presence of police officers on school premises known to be violent.
One disadvantage is that it could put parents off from sending their children to schools that have a police presence, but if the school has built a good academic reputation or is building an all round reputation of both academics and discipline, it could be a positive things for parents to know that the safety of their children is higher.
An obvious problem might be the tendency for some children to be rude or provocative to police, but this will be for police to handle professionally by by putting them straight or or taking such students to the authorities of the school for disciplinary measures which could include suspension. Unnecessary arrests are best avoided, but should be pursued when judged necessar