POLICE IN SCHOOLS SET STUDENTS ON POSITIVE PATH

THE old saying “a stitch in time …” is applicable to the Liberal/National policy to re-establish the Police in Schools program.

It really means that if you act before you have a problem, you can save yourself time and hassles down the track.

Putting police in schools is not a new idea and other states do it. Victoria did it until 2005, when former chief commissioner Christine Nixon scrapped it, despite university studies finding the program was effective.

Putting police in schools isn’t about having uniforms and guns patrolling the classrooms.

It’s about enabling students to understand that police are part of our community to protect us — they are real people who are there to help and not hinder.

That simple engagement activates trust and respect for them as both people and police. By extension, it engenders respect for the law.

The program elsewhere is successful in identifying students at risk of falling between the cracks, leaving school and progressing to anti-social and criminal behaviour. It supports children who seek advice on matters such as family violence.

It has become apparent that respect for the law, and police officers, has withered in parts of our society.

The escalation of youth crime is worrying. Gang behaviour is a big problem.

This program aims to ensure the first contact young people have with the police is a positive one — not the result of behaving badly.

That the Minister for Police Lisa Neville condemned the idea isn’t surprising. Nor is it surprising that the ALP-supporting Australian Education Union voiced concerns.

But as the Member for Bellarine, where crime rates have been on a rampage, one might have thought Ms Neville would want to do everything she possibly could to reduce crime in our communities.

Simon Ramsay MP, Assistant Shadow Minister for Agriculture