By KHRISNA VIRGIL
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
A STRONG police presence is expected for public schools when the new term begins in September, Minister of National Security Dr Bernard Nottage yesterday said.
Although reported incidents of school violence have seen a reduction in past years, Dr Nottage said there are still cases which officials have no knowledge of.
Dr Nottage made the announcement following an early morning meeting with heads of national law enforcement agencies at the Royal Bahamas Police Force's Headquarters in East Street.
The relaunch of the school policing initiative would take a more specialised approach to the needs and level of violence at specific campuses, the minister said.
"In the schools you would have to know the previous situation to know exactly which kind of officer to place at the school to suit their needs."
Dr Nottage did not say how many officers would be stationed at each school.
On Tuesday, Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald said the safety and security of the future leaders of the Bahamas were his top priority.
"That is going to be first and foremost. We will bring discipline back in the school. There will be a zero tolerance for any sort of misbehavior and violence.
"We are going to make sure the students are in an environment where they are going to learn - an environment of respect, discipline and order," he said.
"We have a lot of plans. I have been in meetings for the last two days and we have meetings scheduled for the next two to three days to make sure everyone is on board and understands what we have to do from here on.
"We have put together a technical team within the Ministry of Education to make sure we are able to measure our success. I am very excited and pleased with the support from within the ministry and I am sure we will be able to fulfill the mandate we put forward."
In 2003, the Chrisite administration established the School Policing Unit which involved strategically placing police officers in public schools. However, in 2007, the new FNM government stopped and cancelled the programme.
Since then, political pundits have hotly debated the programme's impact on the fight against crime.
Comments
tell_the_truth 12 years, 5 months ago
Placing police in schools is a waste of government resources. There are very few incidences in schools that need police intevention. When police is needed they are called in. Please focus on more pressing needs in education like illiteracy. Students, many times act up out of frustration of not coping educationally. Decrease class size so that teachers can meet students at their point of need.
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