Nagra Plunkett, Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU:

The reduction of gangs and the related violence in schools will be the major focus of the Safe Schools programme for the 2006-2007 academic year.

According to Superintendent Norman Heywood, coordinator of the police component of the initiative, 10 organised gangs have been identified in schools across the island. Eight of them can be found in St. Catherine and the Corporate Area while there is one each in Trelawny and St. James.

"The Safe Schools Programme is now embarking on conflict resolution technique training by PALS (Peace and Love in Society) for our school resource officers, which is sponsored by the USAID (United States Agency for International Development)," explained Supt. Heywood. "The training began with 30 officers about three weeks ago and is expected to be completed this week."

New security feature

For the start of the new school year in Trelawny, there was a strong deployment of police personnel at institutions across the parish. Commanding officer, Superintendent Linnette Williams-Martin, said this was "a new security feature" for her division.

Last year, the police were faced with a flare-up of gang violence at Cedric Titus and Muschett high schools, which claimed the lives of two male students. As a consequence, the Safe Schools programme was implemented.

The Safe Schools programme is a Ministry of National Security project, introduced in September 2004 to reduce the incidence of violence in primary and high schools. Some 114 schools are under the initiative, 92 of which have been assigned school resource officers as the police are called.

"What we are also doing now is assessing those schools that need full-time police presence on campus during school hours against those that require occasional visits and sessions," Supt. Heywood said.