Why every school should have its own policeman (or woman)

[...] No government, can legislate for good behaviour. My big idea is to provide every primary school in the country with a policeman or woman, and on a permanent basis. Now don’t throw your hands up in horror. I’m not an apologist for any authoritarian tendency. It’s quite simply this; get the youngsters and police to build up excellent relationships at the earliest possible opportunity, helping to foster and nuture respect, responsibility and understanding. This builds perfectly upon the work already undertaken by Labour investing in Early Years - Sure Start, Children’s Fund, Family Centres and so on.

Oodles of evidence points to the fact where primary schools have adopted local cops; there’s a noticeable drop in crime rates in that area in later years. Head Teachers I’ve spoken to love the idea.

It’s not of course a panacea and needs to work in conjunction with other initiatives such as restorative justice schemes.

Crucially though allowing each primary school a police officer is simple and is not rocket science. Yes it’s costly and it’s not just for one term. There’s a cost too to letting the status quo rule. No one said democracy was cheap. The long term benefits will surely be manifestly clear, and be something in time we can all celebrate." Read more
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