Decline in school police presence raises concerns over pupil safety

More than a third of police forces in England have cut back on the numbers of officers based in schools in the past two years, an investigation by CYP Now has revealed.

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 they have the same number.

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Half of police force areas (16 of the 32 that responded to CYP Now's FoI request) do not have a single officer based in any school in their area, five forces more than was the case in 2012.

Police have been based in schools, in 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. The initiative aims to help to keep pupils and the school site safe, improve community relations and reduce the risk of young people getting drawn into crime or extremist behaviour.

CYP Now's investigation found that although police presence in schools has been maintained in several force areas, it has been reduced in many others.

Overall, there were 511 police officers - either constables or police community support officers (PCSOs) - based either full-time or part-time in schools in 2014. This is a decrease of 4.5 per cent on the figure for 2012 when there were 535 officers based in schools. Only one force - the Metropolitan Police - said it had plans to increase the number of school-based officers.

The biggest single reduction came in Hertfordshire, where in 2012 there was a combined total of 21 education support PCSOs aligned to 21 Safer School Partnership areas in the county.

But by 2014, this had been reduced to zero. "As a result of Hertfordshire County Council funding cuts, those education support posts were withdrawn in July 2013," the force's FoI response states.

"Since then, the children and young people team make contact with head teachers through a quarterly newsletter and forward requests for assistance with talks to the appropriate safer neighbourhood team."

Further reductions

There has also been a large reduction in Kent. The force had 14 PCSOs based in schools in 2012, but by 2014 there were none. The force said it does currently have 13 "Safer School PC" (SSPC) roles based in police stations, but some of the positions are vacant "due to natural turnover of officers". It added that the role will be removed entirely by the end of the year, at which point existing SSPCs will train locally-based staff on "how to deal with and manage school-based incidents".

"The intention is to mainstream this function rather than have specialist officers, thus providing much wider coverage," Kent's response states.

"A county SSPC will be retained for specialist advice and support."

There were also reductions in the overall number of school-based officers within the Met, which reduced from 253 officers in 2012 to 246 in 2014; Sussex, from 31 to 27; Avon & Somerset, from 14 to 12; and Essex, from 16 to 11.

Details of the reductions emerge as schools prepare for a new academic year and come just five months after 61-year-old Spanish teacher Ann Maguire was killed at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds on 28 April. A 16-year-old boy, who has admitted unlawfully killing her, is awaiting trial on a charge of murder.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), says school-based officers are "really valued" by schools.

"If there has been a reduction in 11 forces, it is a worry," he adds.

"That sort of presence in the school is enormously valued and can be extremely useful. It enables the police officer to develop a relationship of trust and respect which allows them to work constructively with young people."

While the number of school-based officers across England has dropped, CYP Now's research shows the overall number of schools involved in Safer School Partnerships has actually increased by 7.1 per cent, from 748 schools in 2012 to 801 in 2014.

However, the figures do suggest that SSPs may be less prevalent than once thought: a survey by the Association of Chief Police Officers in 2009 found that 5,200 schools in England said they were part of an SSP structure, and 29 police forces said they had SSPs in place.

Tim Bateman, criminologist at the University of Bedfordshire, says the initiative gained initial momentum because of support from central government, but feels the coalition government's localism agenda, combined with funding reductions for police forces and local authorities, has resulted in different approaches in different areas.

"The thing that stands out is the big variation in approaches - half the forces are doing nothing at all, but other forces are taking it as quite a big issue and devoting considerable resources to it," he says.

Individual agendas

Bateman believes the increases seen in some force areas could be down to the individual agendas of local police and crime commissioners (PCCs) - who were first elected in November 2012 - and have control over local policing priorities and budgets.

This has proved to be the case in West Mercia and Warwickshire, where the PCCs worked in partnership to boost police presence in schools in the areas. In September last year, Warwickshire extended the number of PCSOs in school by four to 10, and West Mercia deployed 18 PCSOs in schools.

However, the lack of a national evidence base for the work could be deterring other forces from following suit. The only published evaluation of Safer School Partnerships, published by the Youth Justice Board in 2004, highlighted anecdotal benefits among pupils and found that absence rates in pilot schools fell significantly, compared to schools not taking part.

But exclusions fell in both SSP participating and comparison schools, to the extent that it was not possible to attribute the fall to SSP, and examination performance was not found to significantly improve.

Despite the hard work of those involved in SSPs, issues with pupil discipline are still present in schools. Most recent Department for Education statistics show that school children were expelled or suspended on 17,520 occasions for physically assaulting adults, an equivalent of 90 incidents a day, during 2011/12.

Speaking in 2012, the government's adviser on behaviour in schools, Charlie Taylor, said the number of challenging school pupils who display "extreme behaviour" is increasing. Giving evidence to the education select committee, Taylor said that although the trajectory of behaviour in schools is improving in general, there is a growing minority of more challenging pupils.

Such concerns serve to highlight the continuing need for strong links between schools and police forces and the benefits this can bring.

At the time of expanding the SSP in his area, Warwickshire PCC Ron Ball said of the initiative: "It is extremely successful in achieving aims to deliver school safety, crime prevention and to support the raising of educational achievement."

SAFER SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS

Safer Schools Partnerships are intended to help keep pupils safe, reduce the risk of young people getting drawn into crime or antisocial or extremist behaviour, improve the safety of the school site and surrounding area, build positive relationships between pupils and the police, promote shared values and improve community relations generally within the school and wider community.

They generally involve a police officer or police community support officer working in a school or number of schools on a fullor part-time basis.