Background
Throughout the 1990’s crime statistics fell sharply, then stabilised1 in the millennium. However, there is now a shift towards more serious knife and gun related crimes especially amongst young people.
Evidence of this can be found in the 2005 Crime and Justice Survey2; this found that 4% of 10 to 25 year-olds said they had carried a knife in the previous 12 months. 85% of these young people stated they carried a knife for self protection, which indicates a cultural mindset based on fear. Whilst carrying a knife does not in itself indicate criminal intent, it nonetheless enables a rapid escalation to more serious events should a situation develop. An example of this can be drawn from the fatal stabbing of 14-year-old Luke Walmsley at a rural Lincolnshire school in 2003.
Unfortunately, many communities are caught in a circle of fear and violence, where gang culture is prevalent and woven into the lives of young people of all races and creeds; especially in urban environments, where the carrying of a knife or a gun is the norm. In many cases drugs are involved which can have a direct link to increased crime rates such as burglary and robbery. Patently this social pattern exists due to a lack of effective role models which is taken into schools and colleges, thus transferring the associated risks to these establishments. This then becomes a very real concern for long term sustainability of safety and security, not just at school, but also the wider community.
The more infrequent but catastrophic affect of targeted violent incidents such as the 1996 Dunblane massacre in which Thomas Hamilton shot and killed 16 primary school children and their teacher, or the more recent massacre of 32 students and staff by Seung-Hui Cho at the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, USA on 16 April 2007 also need to be addressed. However, schools and further education establishments have been struggling to find a balance between effective security measures and openness3. Tackling this problem and creating effective prevention strategies should be a multi-agency approach utilising programmes such as ‘School Watch’ schemes, the Safer School Partnerships4, Secured Environments Certification Scheme and also incident tracking and trend analysis systems.
- Home Office National Statistics – Crime in England and Wales 2005-2006.
- Offending, Crime and Justice Survey, 2005
- Also known as ‘light touch’ approach to security provision; avoiding an aggressively overt, fortress-like environment.
- The Safer Schools Partnerships (SSP) programme enables local agencies to address significant behavioral and crime-related issues in and around a school. There are now over 450 Safer School Partnerships operating throughout England and Wales, with police officers and community support officers based in selected schools.