Funding showdown over 'campus cops'

Published on Saturday 22 November 2008 18:37

SCOTTISH schools have started axing "campus cops" amid a budget crisis, sparking fears of a rise in violence against pupils and teachers, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

Secondaries in Inverclyde, which has some of the country's worst youth crime, have already lost their dedicated police officers after failing to secure funding following a successful pilot programme.

Now teachers in Glasgow fear they too may have to do without their nine "uniforms" as cash-strapped police and council leaders prepare to haggle over an estimated wage bill of around 250,000.

School leaders in the city told Scotland on Sunday they dread the return of gang culture, effectively stamped out by having officers in their corridors and classrooms.

Strathclyde Police, which employs 43 of Scotland's current 50 campus cops, yesterday stressed it remained committed to the scheme, which is widely credited with cutting crime, anti-social behaviour and even absenteeism among pupils and staff. But one of its most senior officers, Chief Superintendent Anne McGuire, yesterday hinted of funding showdown talks to come.

She said: "We are currently in the process of engaging with various local authorities concerning the funding arrangements which are in place."

Some police insiders said they see no reason why they should foot the entire bill for officers in schools, as they do in Glasgow and Aberdeen. Some council sources, meanwhile, said they were uncomfortable subsidising policing from education budgets, as is the case in areas such as Argyll and Ayrshire.

Scotland on Sunday understands the first real test for the existing funding arrangements will come in Glasgow.

Geoff Smith, one of the city's most respected campus policemen, said staff were already worried. The constable has helped transform St Mungo's Academy in the city's east end, driving gang culture out.

Smith said: "There is a debate going on between Strathclyde Police and Glasgow City Council regarding the funding for campus officers.

"The reality is that every other authority within Scotland that has campus officers does fund to some degree.

"It depends on whether we are seen as a luxury or a necessity. I know what I do works. I know that it's got great benefits for the kids, the staff, the school and the police as well."

St Mungo's deputy head Gordon Maitland stressed just how important Smith and other campus cops had become for schools. "My concern is that if the funding ceased there would be a quick return to the problems we faced before Geoff arrived," he said.

Paul Rooney, the Glasgow councillor who chairs Strathclyde's ruling police board, heaped praise on campus cops "breaking down barriers, reducing antisocial behaviour and helping to make our communities safer". But he added: "The funding is an issue which the board and senior officers are now discussing. We expect to extend those discussions to local authorities in due course."

Gordon Matheson, councillor for schools in Glasgow's ruling cabinet, also backed campus cops but stressed that his authority was already funding an extra 100 community officers in the city.

"Glasgow is very proud of the close working relationship we have with Strathclyde Police," he said.