Anonymous crime tip-off scheme for excluded pupils
Lauren Higgs
Friday, March 27, 2009
Young people who have been excluded from school in London are to report crime to the police anonymously, thanks to a new online system.
The School Help Advice Reporting Page, or SHARP, is being rolled out to all 72 pupil referral units (PRUs) in the capital.
London Councils is leading the scheme, which is part of a wider project to improve London PRUs run by the London Youth Crime Prevention Board.
Shireen Ritchie, deputy chair of London Councils’ Children and Young People Forum, said the anonymity of the system would encourage teenagers to speak out about issues that are worrying them.
She said: We know that teenagers in pupil referral units are more at risk of being involved in crime than children in mainstream schools. Young people must feel safe before they can concentrate on their education. If kids are worrying about bullying or crime, they won’t be able to concentrate in class.
Inspector Paul Sloan, from the Metropolitan Police’s Safer School Partnerships unit said that the reporting system could be used to report not only crime, but other issues of concern.
He said: It is vital that young people have confidence in the police. SHARP allows young people to bring issues which directly affect them to the attention of their local police, and then to see that the police listen to and act on their concerns.
