Safer Schools partnership cuts crime
One year on and Warwickshire’s Safer Schools initiative is celebrating a remarkable drop of 46 per cent in the number of incidents of youth anti-social behaviour.
According to figures, the last quarterly report saw falls in crime across the board in areas where Safer Schools are in place.
Measured against the previous year’s figures, this report revealed that incidents of criminal damage have dropped 31 per cent and reports of violence are down 24 per cent.
Safer Schools is a partnership initiative between Warwickshire Police, Warwickshire County Council and selected Warwickshire schools, which sees a police community support officer (PCSO) based on the school sites to offer support to pupils and teachers and the local community.
In addition to a visible presence, PCSOs are also involved in promoting positive activities to support PSHE and citizenship studies, offering advice about personal safety and providing early intervention for students at risk.
Safer Schools was launched as a pilot in six Warwickshire schools in September 2008. The schools chosen to participate were Harris School in Rugby, Campion School in Leamington Spa, Nuneaton’s George Eliot and Hartshill and Manor Park schools and Shipston High in Stratford District.
They were chosen based on police and county council criteria including location of the school in relation to the community and the need for local support.
The long term goal is to extend the programme to all of the county’s secondary schools offering benefits to more pupils and communities. Additional schools will become involved this academic year and then a countywide roll-out will see school clusters forming with groups of schools working with a full-time PCSO in each area of the county.
This cluster model has already proved to be very successful in the delivery of extended services and it is hoped that the two initiatives will continue to be developed side by side.
Warwickshire County Councillor, Izzi Seccombe, Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families, said: "We have seen the positive effect Safer Schools has made in Warwickshire and I’m really excited that the programme has been rolled out to more schools in the area.
"The scheme fully supports our partnership goals. Not only does it help prevent crime and antisocial behaviour but also gives young people support and advice so that they can stay safe and do well at school.”
Speaking about the initiative, David Whitehouse, head of Community Protection at Warwickshire Police added: "One year on and we are seeing real benefits to the environment both within schools and the surrounding area.
"There have been some excellent partnership examples proving the success of this innovative scheme, with real impact for our young people in particular."