A Freedom of Information request sent to 39 forces in England found that a total of 11 forces (34.4 per cent of the 32 that responded) have fewer officers based in schools in 2014 than they did in 2012.
Only five forces (15.6 per cent) said they had more officers based in schools in 2014 than they did in 2012, with 16 forces (50 per cent) reporting that they have the same number.
Police have been based in schools on either a full-time or part-time basis since 2002 as part of the Safer School Partnerships (SSP) initiative introduced by the previous Labour government.
CYP Now’s investigation found that, overall, there were 511 police officers – either PCs or police community support officers (PCSOs) – based either full-time or part-time in schools in 2014 - a decrease of 4.5 per cent on the figure for 2012, when there were 535 officers based in schools.
The biggest single reduction came in Hertfordshire, where all 21 of its education support PCSOs aligned to SSP areas in the county have been scrapped over the past two years.
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