We can build relationships between youngsters and the police in schools

By Richard Robinson

If politics is about anything – and we desperately need to restore confidence in our battered political system after the debacle of expenses scandal – it’s about representation, values, vision, leadership and ideas.

Without these key elements – and if the general public can’t distinguish between the different political parties offerings on each – the effects on wider society will be catastrophic.

Hold the front page though; it’s not all gloom and despair! There are serious ideas out there and if we can find those prepared to persevere and cultivate imaginative and progressive policies, there is genuine hope for a more propitious future.

One such idea – one developed through empirical evidence and work I have undertaken as a Labour councillor, parliamentary assistant, school governor and parliamentary candidate – concerns building close relationships between youngsters and the police.

For example, whether it’s telephone canvassing or knocking on people’s doors as a Labour councillor over the past nineteen years one of the most common moans will be about the general lack of respect shown by some youngsters’ anti-social behaviour.

So what to do? No government can legislate for good behaviour.

So my big idea is to provide every primary school in the country with a policeman or woman, and on a permanent basis. Now don’t throw your hands up in horror. I’m not an apologist for any authoritarian tendency. It’s quite simply this: get the youngsters and police to build up excellent relationships at the earliest possible opportunity, helping to foster and nurture respect, responsibility and understanding. This builds perfectly upon the work already undertaken by Labour investing in Early Years: Sure Start, the Children’s Fund, Family Centres, and so on.

Oodles of evidence points to the fact that where primary schools have adopted local cops, there’s a noticeable drop in crime rates in that area in later years. Headteachers I’ve spoken to love the idea.

It’s not, of course, a panacea and needs to work in conjunction with other initiatives such as restorative justice schemes. Crucially, though, providing each primary school with a police officer is simple and is not rocket science. Yes it’s costly and it’s not just for one term. There’s a cost, too, to letting the status quo rule.

But no one said democracy was cheap. The long term benefits will surely be manifestly clear, and be something in time we can all celebrate.