Leacock defends decision to put police in schools

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, St. Clair Leacock, says that the police force will be proceeding with plans to assign police officers to schools throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines despite public criticism.

Leacock said on NBC on Wednesday that Assistant Commissioners of Police Benzil Samuel and Hezron Ballantyne will be in charge of security in the nation’s schools.

Some schools have security officers while others do not, he said, adding that some schools, with 300 or more students, are assigned two auxiliary police officers to provide security.

“And they are overwhelmed and their presence is not always respected as the regular police force,” Leacock said.

Recently, lawyer and social commentator Jomo Thomas criticised the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force proposal to place police officers at schools, saying that such a move could militarise the education system as opposed to addressing the cause of violence within schools.

Thomas said introducing police officers in schools risked creating a securitised learning environment, like what has been seen in some public schools in the United States, adding that he thought it was a “horrible suggestion”.

But Leacock countered, saying that the two ACPs will “beef up” the quality of school security, not focusing only on behavioural issues, but also maintaining law and order around campuses.

“That is not sitting well with some people who feel that there should be no police presence in schools … but that is not the view that we share,” the national security minister said.

“We have come to this evidence-based, in that we have had consultations, symposiums and workshops,” Leacock said.

He explained further that the police high command has been in contact with principals and various parent-teacher associations and has made its own assessments.

The minister said that the police have also requested to make interventions on many occasions.

“The task will be to curb what is taking place now,” Leacock said.

“And I don’t think anyone will have a blind eye to see that over the last several weeks we have had behaviours on the streets, in public places, within business institutions, those of a kind that is unacceptable for parents, grandparents and people of any serious standing in society.”

He said it was not his intention to amplify the problems taking place in the school system, but the public was aware.

“The principals speak about it, so who you want to deal with it? The teachers? You want them to be in confrontation with the students in the classrooms who are armed with weapons?

“You want some schools to go by without searches being conducted so that they can detect what the students are taking into the schools? You want to be able to allow students to take to school drugs and engage in trafficking in schools and some other things that the principals complaining about?”Leacock said.

He said addressing these matters is the job of law enforcement, adding that there needs to be specially-trained police officers to deal with the issue.