School Offences.

I think far too much of our time is spent dealing with incidents in schools. I am proud to see that Kent Police has put their foot down and decided not to attend any calls to schools whatsoever, including those reporting armed intruders. After all, when did an armed intruder ever do any schoolchildren any harm?

Actually this question arises every other day in Blandmore as I open the "box" (computer terminal) to see at least one incident described as:

"Caller's 12yr old son has been assaulted by 13yr old at school. This has been reported to the school."

This is a prime example of a "multi-agency approach". This method takes the following form:

Step One
A minor offence is committed against a child.

Step Two
The victim tells their parents.

Step Three
The parents tell the school.

Step Four
The school tells the parents they do not plan to do anything.

Step Five
The parents tell the police.

Step Six
PC Bloggs tells the parents she does not plan to do anything.

Step Seven
The parents tell Social Services, who tell the Inspector.

Step Eight
The Inspector tells PC Bloggs she WILL do something.

Step Nine
PC Bloggs arrests the offender and charges him.

Step Ten
The offender apologises to the victim and the victim withdraws the complaint.

The multi-agency approach of school, Social Services and police has here come together for a satisfactory result taking only a few days of police time. Not only has the police force obtained a Detection, but the victim's parents have managed to solve the crisis without ever having to be civil or diplomatic to another family, and the school has managed to stay out of its pupils' lives completely. A success all round.

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