A senior police official on Tuesday warned public school students involved in criminal activity that police officers will take a zero tolerance approach to violence on public school campuses during this school year.
But Assistant Commissioner John Rolle stressed that police are not on school campuses to intimidate students.
Mr. Rolle told The Bahama Journal that in the past violence in schools was allowed to escalate without proper measures being put in place to adequately address the situation.
“For far too long we have been having problems with students vandalizing the schools and behaving unseemly on school property and so the police presence in the schools will curtail that type of activity and we believe further on we will see a decrease in criminal activity on school campus,” the assistant commissioner said.
The police are also monitoring students as they leave the vicinity of the schools to help cut down on deviant behaviour.
“We found out that after school lots of things happen and so the police will be there to monitor all student activities,” Mr. Rolle said.
Earlier this year, a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death allegedly by another student.
Some teachers, meanwhile, complained throughout the year that some students were uncontrollable and were bringing weapons into the classrooms.
Mr. Rolle said those concerns are real.
“I want to warn all students that the police will be there and will take action,” he said.
Mr. Rolle urged students to be cooperative.
“The police will not take action unless it’s warranted-so students should not be fearful because police are on the campus,” Mr. Rolle said.
Minister of Education Alfred Sears has stressed the importance of safety in the schools.
He told reporters on Tuesday that this will continue to be a key focus of his ministry.
“We have taken a comprehensive initiative to strengthen the security in the schools,” he said.
“A former assistant commissioner of police, Garth Johnson, is currently director of security services in the schools to manage security personnel. So we are well on the way in placing more security measures in the schools.”
He added that a programme has been established with the police training college where security officers employed by the Ministry of Education are receiving law enforcement training.
“We also have hired persons and we are looking at a selection of persons [who] have the competence and capability to be effective security officers,” the minister said.
Police so far have been stationed at 12 schools in The Bahamas. Minister Sears said authorities plan to expand that number next year so that more schools will have police presence during school hours.
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
