Teachers hit out at 'campus cops'

TEACHERS have hit out at police officers stationed in Scotland's schools. Members of the EIS, Scotland's largest teaching union, have voted overwhelmingly for tougher limits on their powers amid fears that teachers were, in effect, being used as informers.

Teachers backed a motion banning officers in schools from disciplining children or charging them with crimes. And Helen Connor, vice-president of the union, said she wanted police removed from schools completely.

Ms Connor said she was concerned schemes which bring officers into schools could turn teachers into "grasses" and criticised the practice of officers being parachuted into schools without consulting teachers.

There are currently 46 police officers working in at least 50 schools across 11 local authorities.

Ms Connor said: "When we asked one local authority why this had happened, and why these three schools had been chosen, the answer they gave was that communities around these schools had particular difficulties with the 15-17-year age group.

"Why then, I ask, were the police officers put into the schools and not extra officers put into the community?

"They were looking for intelligence gathering, they wanted staff in school to tell them about what the young people were doing. That's not why I came into teaching. I did not think I would ever see, in Scotland, police officers in schools."

Northfield Academy in Aberdeen was one of the first schools to have its own police. Campus cops have also been introduced in North Ayrshire, Glasgow and South Lanarkshire.

Last year North Lanarkshire announced two schools in Coatbridge and one in Wishaw would be given a full-time constable in a £400,000 scheme.

Last year, two officers were assigned to Tynecastle and Boroughmuir high schools in Edinburgh in a year-long pilot.

Four more schools, not yet chosen, will be assigned officers in the capital after a report revealed the move improved behaviour and reduced exclusions.

But speaking at the annual conference on Saturday, Ms Connor called for detailed procedures to be drawn up on the role and duties of school police officers before they are installed.

A motion demanding headteachers retain full control, officers are not involved in disciplining and cannot charge pupils with offences was passed overwhelmingly by delegates.

She added: "I don't think there should be campus police officers at all. These people should be in the community looking at the problems of society; but if we do have them we should have them with an agreed protocol."

Patrick Cullen, from North Lanarkshire, said his school lost valuable teaching space last year for a dedicated police office with a direct link to the police computer system.

He accepted the officers could make a valuable contribution to pastoral care but said they should never be enforcers of school discipline.

And he doubted having officers on site would help children who suffer from troubled home lives to feel safer.

In 2006 East Renfrewshire placed three full-time officers at Woodfarm High in Thornliebank, Eastwood High in Newton Mearns and Barrhead High.

In one year the council saw a 14 per cent drop in levels of vandalism, street drinking and assault and the authority is looking to expand the scheme to Mearns Castle High.

In August last year Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, visited Barrhead High to investigate alternatives to antisocial behaviour orders.

A spokesman for East Renfrewshire council said: "We have had police officers in schools for two years and everyone concerned has been delighted.

"None of the schools were picked because there had been problems. If we could have a campus cop in each of our seven high schools, we would."

The East Renfrewshire scheme is based on a Danish model and was recently praised by school inspectors, HMIe.

It costs £178,000 annually and is currently funded by Scottish Government cash, which is due to run out next year.

School police officers work full-time Monday to Friday from an office within the building.

A key aim is early intervention to prevent troubled youngsters' bad behaviour spiralling into criminality, but backers say it also helps foster better relations between pupils and the police.

Having a visible police presence also deters pupils fighting and adults parking on zig-zag lines or speeding past school gates, and can help catch offenders, backers of the scheme claim.

A drug addict who slashed a teacher after school at Crookford Primary in Newton Mearns last year was caught by the campus officer based at Eastwood High across the road.

PC Susan Greer was able to identify and arrest the assailant the following day by scrutinising both school and police CCTV footage.

The council spokesman added: "Staff have been very supportive of the move. The idea of a police officer encouraging teachers to act as some kind of grass or secret agent is absolute nonsense. We have found the officers have a real role in discipline, which is very supported by the staff in those schools. By their very presence they have been able to solve problems and act as a deterrent."

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, which forms policing policy, said the intention was to make pupils and staff feel safer.

He said: "It is up to the chief constable of a particular force if he or she feels it would reassure the public, and that includes school children.

"Teachers' authority has diminished, as has the authority of bus drivers and shop keepers.

"Life has changed and the EIS really has to look at what life is like – in many areas of the UK there is a need for this."

John Carnochan, detective chief superintendent and head of the Violence Reduction Unit, said campus officers performed a unique role: "They are not there to police classrooms, they're there to build stronger community relationships and act as positive role models for children who may lack such a figure in their lives."

He added: "A preliminary report on the experiences of two schools in 2006 highlighted that they feel having a campus officer had been beneficial both to the school and its pupils and to the community at large."

The Scottish Government is to carry out a national evaluation of the role. A spokeswoman said: "Clearly any work to ensure that future generations of young Scots do not become caught up in a culture of violence that is blighting too many communities is to be welcomed."

Future funding for East Renfrewshire's scheme would be carefully considered, she said.

'Campus cop' is first-class in improving relationship between force and pupils

COLLEAGUES of PC Mark Armstrong now jokingly accuse him of going native.

When the officer started at Barrhead High School in East Renfrewshire two years ago, he struggled to understand the education jargon.

Now he happily chats about the Curriculum for Excellence and attainment, to the extent that other police officers joke he is turning into a teacher.

Before taking the post, PC Armstrong was a regular school visitor, giving talks to pupils about the work of police dogs.

Now a firm fixture at the school, he still greets pupils and staff at the front gates each morning and sees them off at the end of every day.

He is one of three "campus cops" based at three secondary schools in East Renfrewshire.

The aim is for officers to act as role models, improving relationships between pupils and police, and to intervene before children become involved in criminal activity.

East Renfrewshire is a low-crime area, but the streets around Barrhead High have had a high incidence of offences, such as fighting, drinking and vandalism.

Since PC Armstrong opened his office in the school, the level of crime reported in the area has dropped by 14 per cent.

In October, the former drug awareness officer at Strathclyde Police organised an anti-sectarianism march with pupils from both non-denominational Barrhead High and nearby Catholic school, St Luke's.

He also launched a cycle-to-school scheme – which has seen 20 pupils swap the bus for the bike – and a campaign to encourage children to help clean up litter.

Pupils come to him with queries, ranging from whether they can get into trouble from riding miniature motorbikes, to how they can become police officers.

A council spokesman said: "He is very highly regarded and has had a massive impact on the school."

The officer, who always wears his police uniform, but without the stab-proof vest, attends a meeting of the joint support team each week along with teachers, deputy heads, the school psychologist and social workers.

He warns teachers if a pupil's parents have been involved with the police – for example, if a father assaults a mother and the youngster saw it – to enable school staff to understand if a particular child's behaviour might be caused by personal circumstances.

IN NUMBERS

46
Campus cops are estimated to be on duty across Scotland.

35
Of those are in the Strathclyde Police area .

11
Local authorities have police officers in schools.

14
Per cent reduction in street crime, such as vandalism, as a result of the scheme in East Renfrewshire in just two years.

3
Years since Scotland's longest serving campus officer, PC Geoff Smith, arrived at St Mungo's in Glasgow's East End.

12
Pupils have applied to be police cadets at St Mungo's since PC Smith started at the school.