DCP Benjamin: 29 students on ‘naughty list’

DCP Junior Benjamin - Faith Ayoung

THE police made a list and checked it twice and, through its police in school initiative, found out which students were naughty or nice.

Police confirmed that 29 students from different schools were arrested for different offences during the school term.

“We had things like possession with a weapon, possession of marijuana and assault with a weapon. We even had one or two cases of robbery. We had quite a number of assault because of the number of fights we had. Also, there was possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin in a phone conversation with Newsday on December 24.

He said the students were taken to the courts where it was decided what level of action should be taken to give remedial help to the students who ran afoul of the law in one way or another.

“The TTPS is not there to take a hard approach, what we are there for is to really show support. So we are talking to them,” he said.

After a rash of violence in schools during the year, the Prime Minister, in July, announced that the government would be introducing police in specific at-risk schools across the country.

A total of 95 officers took specialised school-oriented policing training, in order to curb school violence and promote peer counselling. The programme involved 50 schools and officially started on September 8.

Police, while at the schools, were able to nab students engaging in various illegal acts.

On September 17, a 13-year-old student from Coryal Secondary School, Cumuto, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. The student was one of the first arrested by police under the initiative. Another student was arrested and charged on October 1, after being found with ganja in his bookbag during a search by security.

On October 22, two students from La Romaine High School were found with marijuana on the school grounds.

The two students ages 14 and 15 were arrested and charged with possession of a dangerous drug in a school with students present.

On November 17, another student, this time a 16-year-old from Valencia Secondary School, was arrested after he was allegedly found with marijuana and a concealed weapon during a routine search.

Despite the successes there were still incidents that occurred in schools that were both in and out of the initiative.

At Arima North Secondary several fights led to staff raising concerns over management at the school.

On September 10, a fight broke out between a female teacher and a female student at the school, which was captured on video by students and uploaded to social media. Another fight broke out in the same school in October, which was also captured on video.

Arima North Secondary is not one of the 50 schools selected for the initiative.

In November a massive brawl involving both male and female students broke out a short distance away from Barataria North Secondary. A police officer was at the scene of the brawl but a video depicted him being overwhelmed by the situation as several students were involved in the fracas.

Despite the incidents Benjamin said the number of fights has reduced.

“It is not that we have not had fights, but compared to last year, as far as our records are concerned, we have seen a decline,” he said.

He said further analysis of the data is still needed and the police is expected to meet with the Ministry of Education soon to see what adjustments may be needed to move the initiative forward.

Benjamin said police also plan to add new features to the initiative.

“We are seeking to add a mentorship element to the programme so we can really bring our students into being productive citizens of TT.

“We also want to ensure that we empower the school safety officers as we move forward. We are the ones that are supposed to bring law and order to the schools, but we would want to empower them. Therefore we will be working hand in hand with them and with the MTS so they can maintain that level of law and order.”

TTUTA president Crystal Ashe said while it did not have empirical evidence of the number of incidents in schools and whether police’s presence has reduced it, information coming to the union suggests that the police are doing good work at the schools.

“So we see it as a positive thing,” he said. “We are not seeing it as a negative thing. We are looking to see what sort of impact in terms of statistical information we will get presented to us next year. We have asked the ministry for that and we are hoping that they will present it to us in the near future.

“What we have been getting in terms of feedback from the school personnel is that they seem to be comfortable with the fact that the police are there, but at the end of the day, it is children. So the police presence would not stop everything. The homes and everyone in society must get on board.”

Newsday reached out to Minister of Education Dr Michael Dowlath for comment, asking him to respond to information of the number of students arrested and future plans for the initiative.

An assistant called back and said that verification of information was needed before the ministry could respond.