Second Chance Centres

Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for the invitation to this Conference.

 

As it says on the programme, in this brief presentation, I am going to talk about persistently disruptive pupils; school campus based police officers, and the possible benefits of second chance centres.

 

We all know that some pupils can be extremely disruptive and violent. School staff can have an incredibly hard job trying to control very difficult situations. And other pupils can have their education seriously disrupted.

 

In these circumstances, exclusions are entirely understandable and unavoidable. The focus of this part of today’s presentation is what those pupils should be doing while they are excluded from mainstream schooling.

 

I have come across a lot of disappointment based on the belief that not enough is done to keep excluded pupils occupied. I have also heard the view expressed that time on exclusion is easy time and that cannot be right.

 

Also, I’ve heard cynicism about official statistics on the number of pupils excluded from school. It seems to be generally felt that official numbers are way too low and are adversely affected by Government targets.

 

But whatever about the numbers, intimidation of other pupils by text or telephone, or by hanging about the school gates, or anti-social behaviour or crime in our wider communities - excluded pupils can cause real difficulties.

 

With too much free time on their hands, it is very often put to other than good works.

 

As one officer put it to me, “When a pupil has to be in school at 9 each morning, it’s less likely he’ll be roaming the streets in the early hours of the morning committing crime.”

 

Some pupils can be very sophisticated about the way they go about co-ordinating their exclusions with friends. Others are involved is serious gang-related activity. It is a mistake to think this is not a big problem. It is. And without exception, everyone I have spoken to thinks something needs to be done about the problem - urgently.

 

In the classroom, bad behaviour by pupils is not a matter for the police, it is entirely a matter for teachers, and quite rightly so. But outside class, outside school in the wider community, bad behaviour can often amount to crimes and offences and of course these are matters for the police.

 

We heard recently that every day in Scotland, police are called to schools at least 32 times. Reported incidents range from firearms and knife crimes, serious assaults and sexual offences, wilful fire-raising and drug crimes. So what are the police doing about it? 

 

Well of course it is the job of every police officer to deal with anti-social behaviour and crime. But specifically linked to schools, there are now 61 school campus based police officers in Scotland. They have been around for about 6 years now.

 

In that time their role has evolved in consultation between education and police authorities and has become more standardised.

 

These officers are based and work at specific secondary schools. They also have some responsibilities for that secondary school’s feeder primary schools.

 

As well as being fully integrated with community policing more generally, these officers are now more formally linked with police Violence Reduction Units.

 

 

 

Typically, the role of the campus based officer includes:

 

 

The result we are looking for in the long term is sustainable reductions in anti-social behaviour, violence and crime.

 

The officers themselves are volunteers and have to possess certain skills and experience before they are selected for the role. They are often interviewed for posts by both police supervisors and Head Teachers.

 

The first substantial evaluation of campus officers is due to be published this month and it’s understood to be overwhelmingly positive.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that the work campus officers do is very positive with clear benefits for the pupils themselves, their schools and communities.

 

If each campus officer diverts even one child from a life of crime, or a wasted life to a more positive future, then the investment has been worthwhile. Potentially, of course the benefit is far greater than that.

 

But I want to emphasise that this is not just about the police. We are only a small part of what’s going on. In speaking to some of officers recently, they told me about the Prince’s Trust involvement in ‘XL Groups’. They told me about ‘Right Track’ initiatives and the involvement of ‘Culture and Sport Glasgow’, or Active 8 in Edinburgh.

 

There is no doubt that many good things are happening. It seems to me that if there is a gap, it is a lack of co-ordination and standardisation, and this brings me back to today’s event.

 

When Elizabeth Smith MSP first contacted me about this, it was about whether I thought retired or ex-police officers would have an interest in working in second chance centres. My answer was then and is now, undoubtedly.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that many of my ex-colleagues are appropriately skilled to make a valuable contribution to such an initiative. 

 

If we had second chance centres, if we could keep difficult and disruptive pupils in the system, then we all stand to gain.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, wherever this proposal goes in the future, I am pleased to be able to offer the support of the Scottish Police Federation.