Base police in schools and turn the tide on knife crime
MANY of the 20,000 new police officers promised by Boris Johnson should be stationed in schools, according to young people.
Having dedicated safety officers in schools would help police get to know the area they serve and build relationships with the local community.
That's one of the findings of a report by the Youth Select Committee, an initiative led by the British Youth Council and backed by Parliament.
Most select committee reports, of course, are written by MPs or members of the House of Lords. This one was produced by 11 young people from across the country including Husnaa Mota, aged 18, from Coventry. The Committee considered evidence from a range of sources including West Midlands Police, which submitted a paper spelling out the huge challenge the force faces as it attempts to fight knife crime in our region.
The inquiry's subject was chosen in a ballot of 1.1 million young people aged 11 to 18 nationwide. They said knife crime was their biggest concern.
It's not hard to understand why, when you consider the evidence presented by West Midlands Police. In a detailed written submission, the force said: “Knife crime, including robbery, has steadily increased since the summer of 2015.”
The force added: “We are seeing increasing numbers of injuries and fatalities amongst young people. This is predominantly a problem impacting on young people, including school children, with 46% of both victims and offenders being under 25 years old.”
In a new report, the inquiry recommended that police officers be attached to schools.
The Committee said: “Police officers should have the resources and time to get to know the area they serve and build relationships with the local community.
“We therefore recommend that a large number of the recently announced 20,000 police officers who will be recruited over the next three years will be dedicated safety officers in schools and neighbourhood police”
But they also argued that fighting knife crime could not just be a matter for the police. Instead, they said that inequality within communities and differences in opportunities provided across the country makes some young people particularly vulnerable to the draw of violence and gangs. The Government should develop a plan with clear targets and deadlines aimed at tackling the injustices which make a young person more vulnerable to knife crime, the inquiry said.
The Committee also said there was a link between expelling people from school and knife violence, and said schools should continue to be held accountable for pupils even after they have been expelled – a measure that could serve to discourage unnecessary expulsions.
They highlighted a report by Anne Longfield, the Children's Commissioner
for England, which found that gang associated children and young people under the age of 16 are more likely to have experienced school disruption than children and young people not associated with gangs. This can mean that they were excluded from school, or moved school for some other reason.
And school inspection service Ofsted, in written evidence to the inquiry, said that children who are excluded from school and referred to Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) “have self-reported higher instances of knife carrying than children who are not excluded”.
The inquiry said; “We believe that all efforts should be made to prevent a young person from being excluded in the first instance, and exclusions should only be used as a last resort.
Schools should be required to clearly demonstrate which steps they took before escalating the intervention to an exclusion.”
And the Committee criticised short-term custodial sentences for young people who carry knives, and urged the Government to consider whether there is another approach that could more effectively deter young people from continued involvement in knife crime.
In this, they were again echoing evidence from West Midlands Police, which warned that short sentences may do more harm than good – and also complained that courts are failing to dish out tough sentences for those people who really need them.
West Midlands Police said in its evidence to the inquiry: “Short sentences don't generally have a positive outcome as there is a high reoffending rate and thus, they do not act as a deterrent... the level of rehabilitation from shorter sentences is limited and offenders have described this as ‘easy time'.
“The failure to sentence severely enough for repeat offenders or those offenders who breach conditions or orders is concerning. This is particularly relevant for breach of civil orders where it constitutes a criminal offence eg, gang injunctions.”
Rachel Ojo, Chair of the Youth
Select Committee, said: “The Youth Select Committee are concerned with the Government's increasingly punitive approach to tackling knife crime.
“If the Government wishes to confront the fundamental causes of the rise in violent crime amongst young people, it must do more to address and improve the difficult circumstances many young people are facing.”
The good news, perhaps, is that Boris Johnson appears to agree. The Prime Minister has stated that he wants more youth services, more support for young people and more opportunities, as those are just as important in the fight against youth crime as policing. Whether he'll deliver on his good intentions remains to be seen.
Short sentences don’t generally have a positive outcome as there is a high reoffending rate
West Midlands Police