Universities recruit private security patrols to enforce restrictions
UNIVERSITIES are paying tens of thousands of pounds for security teams to check students are following social distancing guidelines.
Students caught breaking public health guidance could be given fines, suspended or even expelled.
The teams report on students in private accommodation and the area surrounding the university, rather than just the university grounds and halls of residence.
Nottingham and Nottingham Trent universities currently pay £60,000 towards community protection officers supplied by the council. The officers, who often deal with noise disturbances from rowdy parties, will collect evidence on students who are seen to break public health guidance before passing it on to the university.
Nottingham University told The Daily Telegraph that it is looking into spending more money on officers to inform them of their students’ activities. Prof Shearer West, the university’s vice-chancellor, said: “We already spend, between the two universities, something like £60,000 a year on community protection officers. We are looking at how we reinforce that.
“What those protection officers may be looking for may not just be loud parties – which is one of the things they obviously do look at – but also if there are some real offences to the discipline code in terms of public health.
“We have to think about the students that we don’t have immediately under our sights and we can ensure that the students are aware and have signed up to the discipline expectations of how they should behave in a public health pandemic.”
Newcastle and Northumbria universities told The Telegraph that they share the cost of a police student liaison officer and night-time patrols through a scheme called Operation Oak, which cost them £124,400 in the past year.
Students at University College London are banned from having overnight visitors, while those at Oxford have to wear masks in indoor communal areas.
Bristol University previously said it would hand out fines of up to £800 on anti-social students breaking public health guidance.