Unarmed cops to be ‘guardians’ of schools

In an attempt to achieve acceptable levels of behaviour among the nation’s schoolchildren, Education Minister Hazel Manning announced yesterday that unarmed community police would now become “the guardians of the schools outside of the school compound.” Addressing the seemingly intractable problem of school indiscipline, the Education Minister also stressed that her ministry would maintain its policy against corporal punishment, focusing instead on “alternative methods” of dealing with school indiscipline.” National Security Minister Martin Joseph said he hoped that “as early as Monday some level of intervention” would begin.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Manning said the community police would be in those areas where schoolchildren tend to gather during the lunchtime, after-school hours and as well as while school is in session “where they are not supposed to be.” The community police would not be looking at specific schools, but would be dealing with the specific problems of illicit drugs, sexual abuse, violence and indiscipline, she said. The community police would also establish Police Youth Clubs in schools as well as provide assistance in the training of teachers and other personnel to deal with disruptive situations, Manning stated. National Security Minister Martin Joseph said the Police Commissioner and top officials were currently working out the level of human resources necessary to implement community policing programmes nationwide. “We need to ensure that while we provide support there, we don’t open ourselves to a challenge somewhere else,” he said. He stressed there was the competence, will and capacity to deal with the challenge.  The minister pointed out that the community police had to be orientated to understand the critical nature of their responsibility. Emphasising that Government did not want to give the impression that the country’s schools were becoming a fortress, Joseph stressed that everything would be done in consultation and agreement with the Ministry of Education.

Manning said that while the details of the programme were still to be worked out, Government had put fences, lights and was about to sign contracts for private security in 17 schools. She said while the ministry would implement zero tolerance for criminal activity, the solution to the problem had to be more than identifying bad-behaved students and dealing with them. The ministry was looking at a series of indicators in analysing the problem of violence and indiscipline in certain schools, she said, adding that these issues included, leadership, management structure, the physical condition of the schools, the curriculum and  the level of preparedness of students when they entered the schools. Manning said part of the long-term plan included a $2 billion school repair drive since the physical conditions in some schools were not conducive to studying. She said the ministry was also conducting management classes with principals and deans.

“It would take some time, but we are working (with the problems) one by one,” she said. She noted that for the first time this year the Ministry put 12 social workers in schools to work with difficult children and their families. She added  that the ministry was in the process of establishing a permanent support structure for difficult children. On the problem of parents attacking teachers, Manning said the ministry was talking to the National Parent/Teachers Association which needed to become more proactive. “For every issue that you can identify the ministry has been doing something about it,” she said. The decision to increase community police presence at schools came following a meeting on Tuesday of a seven-member team consisting of Manning, Joseph, Junior Minister Anthony Roberts, Acting Commissioner of Police Everald Snaggs, Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier Ancil Antonie and Brigadier Peter Joseph. Manning said the army would have no role in the programme.