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An Elite Cordless alarm |
PANIC ALARMS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS
First-year children to be handed defence devices in bid to tackle crime
PANIC alarms are being issued to every new secondary school pupil in Westminster, more than 1,000 eleven-year-olds, to protect them from attacks.
It will be the first time such devices, designed to disorientate attackers with a high-pitched, 130-decibel response, are handed out to schoolchildren in the UK.
Police have denied charges of “scaremongering”, claiming children in their difficult first year of secondary school will feel safer walking to and from the school gates – and that they are an appropriate measure in the war on knife crime.
But there are concerns the Elite Cordless Alarms (pictured) will create a climate of fear among children and cause havoc in the classrooms.
Karen Buck, the MP for Regent’s Park and Kensington North, has questioned whether central London warrants the alarms, and one headteacher has already said her school, Quintin Kynaston in St John’s Wood, will be opting out of the scheme because “the kids would be letting them off all over the place.”
?Sergeant Karl Rogers, from Belgravia Police Station who is overseeing the initiative, said: “It’s about personal safety and protection. We are not scaremongering. Youth crime is in the news every day. We are even considering issuing them to Year 6 pupils. Yes, it is a bold idea that hasn’t been done before, and we’re proud of it.
“We talk with the pupils about when and how to use them. It’s not like we parachute in, give them out and just leave. It is up to the individual child whether they want one. It’s not compulsory.”
Under the plan, which is part of a bigger campaign to cut youth violence, Swap a Knife for a Life, every year seven pupil will be provided with an alarm before the schools break up for the summer holidays.
The alarms are operated by squeezing two buttons.
Jo Shuter, headteacher at Quintin Kynaston, said: “I can understand where the police are coming from, and it is true Year 7 pupils are some of the most vulnerable, but I think there are better ways of ensuring kids’ safety.”
The Minister for London Tony McNulty MP, in an interview with the West End Extra, said: “Of course there has to be a balance between prevention of crime, protecting people from crime and over-reacting against the perception of crime.
“But I think in this context, giving out panic alarms is a good idea. It is part of the overall protection and prevention stuff then that is very good.
“If they [the children] set them off in lessons, deal with it. I think in that context – safety and anti gangs – it is spot on.”
The alarms were the idea of a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO), Sophie Chin, whose 13-year-old daughter was attacked twice by a gang of girls on the way back to school.
Ms Chin, a single mother working at Belgravia Police Station, said: “Two years ago my daughter was attacked on her way home from school by a group of children. If she had a panic alarm it might not have happened.
“She started carrying one, and I asked my skipper whether we could get them into schools in a bigger way.”
MP Ms Buck added: “I would be open minded about it, but I would say that we must be certain these alarms don’t make children feel more scared.
“Is London really that dangerous? There is a lot of fear out there, often more than parents believe to be the case. We must also be confident that an 11-year-old can use the device properly.
“Whether its better to leg it, hand over your mobile phone, or set off an alarm, I’m not honestly sure.” |
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