Carisa Lee

Deputy Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Ju­nior Ben­jamin says there has been a no­tice­able re­duc­tion in school vi­o­lence since po­lice of­fi­cers were de­ployed to high-risk schools al­most two months ago.

How­ev­er, he said while in­ci­dents in­side schools have de­clined, some are now spilling on­to the streets. “Some schools that we're still yet to see the num­ber of vi­o­lence go­ing down,” Ben­jamin said, adding that this was feed­back from a few prin­ci­pals.

The gov­ern­ment as­signed 95 trained Spe­cial Re­serve Po­lice of­fi­cers to ten pri­ma­ry and 50 sec­ondary schools at the start of the school year.

Ben­jamin said the ini­tia­tive has al­ready led to pos­i­tive be­hav­iour­al changes, as of­fi­cers are build­ing re­la­tion­ships with stu­dents. “They now see po­lice not as the big bad wolf, but more like a big broth­er,” he said.

Ben­jamin, who heads ad­min­is­tra­tion, said there are no im­me­di­ate plans to ex­pand the pro­gramme but it will con­tin­ue as long as it re­mains ef­fec­tive. “We are go­ing to be li­ais­ing with the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion to con­stant­ly again analyse the schools that we are in,” he said.

Pres­i­dent of the Na­tion­al Coun­cil of Par­ent Teacher As­so­ci­a­tions, Wal­ter Stew­art, said while it is still ear­ly, re­cent weeks have seen few­er re­ports of school vi­o­lence on so­cial me­dia. “NPTA will con­tin­ue to mon­i­tor the sit­u­a­tion,” he said.