Dedicated team of police officers for secondary schools in Leeds
THE AUTHORITIES in Yorkshire’s largest city have worked in partnership with headteachers for a decade now to run a programme that provides dedicated police officers to all participating secondary schools.
Safer Schools, led by the city’s community safety partnership, currently has a team of 27 officers whose whole focus is on supporting those schools to reduce crime.
Neighbourhood policing teams regularly visit primary schools and intensive workshops are run for children involved in knife crime.
West Yorkshire Police’s professional unit also employs a teacher who helps to prepare training for officers running sessions with pupils on issues like knife crime, drugs and domestic abuse.
Paul Money, chief officer of Safer Leeds, believes the commitment FAMILY APPROACH: in terms of policing resources is unique among the Core Cities Group that also includes the likes of Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester.
“Young people are just about the most important group of people we could engage with,” he said. “The point about being in the school isn’t about criminalising the kids or being apologists for recorded crime.
“The fact is we’re there and we’re engaging.
“Being there at the early stage of an issues allows us to take an approach that’s family-centred. It’s got to be siblings of offenders, parents – it’s about engaging that family.”
Every effort has been made to resist austerity pressures that could mean cuts to the programme, although there has been a small reduction as some schools opted out of Safer Schools and its 50/50 funding arrangement with West Yorkshire Police.
Steve Walker, director of children’s services at Leeds City Council, said the advent of academies had changed the role of councils from one of control to one of partnership, but everyone was clear that “irrespective of the type of school that children attend, they’re Leeds children”.