There are several points about this article I would make. I’ve thought about this post before making it but a counter narrative is needed to address what I feel is a misunderstanding & of the aim here. 1/15
To start, the pt that wherever the police are, there is a risk that if “policing” is not balanced informed, sensitive to context, trauma & procedurally just, we could create an increased likelihood of involvement with the CJ system, which may adversely effect outcomes 2/15
This pt is not lost on many in policing. It may apply outside of the school environment too. The answer to the issues of inequity are complex, education is part of the solution but in my opinion, & of many I work with from education, removing schools officers will not help. 3/15
Schools officers I work with know this. “policing” is more than the police. The article could have acknowledged the decision to exclude is an act of “policing” & not a decision of the police. Teachers are the experts in education. They lead on nurturing positive behaviour 4/15
But the police play a part in this education. Thats the UK style & why @ThamesVP safer schools officer have lead the PHSE approved packages for schools. The US style is so different it’s of no comparison but there is a range of practices here & that should be appreciated 5/15
Policing is also about justice too. We can’t leave that out. There are victims of crime. victims comes for all parts of our community & they have expectations of a CJ.A system that must make crime less likely, but on occasions there has to be a consequence to a criminal act. 6/15
This means there are something’s competing principles. Children can be victims of crime by other children, this area is complex. Never atomise these issues. I’m not saying issues of inequity do not disproportionately effect certain groups, it does & needs addressing 7/15
We also need to discuss Adverse Childhood Experiences, Neurodiversity, @TV_VRU is building a Trauma Informed Schools network - this is what we do. I’m surprised given the range of issues linked (quickly) together here these are not raised.8/15
The police are supplying information to schools to understand the trauma exposure of children to understand need. We hope this will reduce decisions to exclusions & raise educational attainment. We are not being asked by schools for this, we are doing this because we get it 9/15
This will help with understanding non typical behaviour. We need to improve how this information translates into how children are cared for on all sides, I’m not pointing fingers in this thread. But making a point, we are leading a narrative to improve things. 10/15
the police are actually leading the way in addressing issues raised here. @TV_VRU are writing funding applications to increase the number of Edu Psychologists in schools. We are doing so with local authorities & academic partners to evaluate -that’s partnership working 11/15
Another pt to add to the trauma & neurodiversity is traumatic brain injuries-together these needs are over represented in our justice system & prison. Studies have shown these needs are undiagnosed until people progress through the system. That is the fault of many agencies 12/15
Much actual evidence is being published in this area, it could have been referenced in the article. The article by Ben Bradford is one recent one. The more critical evidence of schools officers is from the US 13/15 pshe-association.org.uk/sites/default/…
Im not taking away from anyones opinion, they are entitled to their view. Im also aware that experiences shape views, I won’t comment of the experiences of others. But many years ago PC Phillips came to my school & played no small role in me becoming an officer. Years later 14/15
I walked the beat with PC Phillips. He was a great cop. But as a schools officer he did the most important thing of all, showed a human behind a uniform, connected with a child and made him think differently about the police. 15/15
