Campus officers are community police officers based full time within a single secondary school. Their role is not to police the classrooms but to help develop greater links with the community and in particular young people: whereas a community police officer may only come into contact with a dozen or so young people every day, campus officers will interact with hundreds. By virtue of being based in school permanently rather than being an infrequent visitor, the officer becomes part of school life, providing additional moral authority. By getting to know pupils they can build up real trust: there are many examples of pupils coming to campus officers seeking advice on everything from bullying to drugs. The officers are also able to enhance the intelligence available in the area around the school, for example, who has been selling drugs or gang fighting. Officers also build up close relationships with teachers, school staff, parents and the wider community by working from a schools base.

We currently have 55 campus officers in 53 schools across Scotland. The posts and schools who benefit from them are agreed by local Divisional Commanders and local Education Authorities. Funding of campus officers varies from area to area. In some areas it is joint funded by the local divisional commander and the local education authority, in other places it is funded purely by the divisional area.

The Scottish Government are currently in the process of evaluating the campus officer programme, but a preliminary report on the experience of two schools in 2006 highlighted that their role is a positive one.

East Renfrewshire and SSPC – Schools, Social Work, Police and Community.

Following on from the campus officer scheme, East Renfrewshire Council undertook to pilot the SSPC model. Based on a programme tried and tested in Denmark, it brings together schools, social work, police and community to develop a holistic approach to tackling anti-social behaviour and youth offending early.

The police officer – who, like all campus officer is specially selected for the role – will work with teachers and social workers to identify children potentially at risk of offending. SSPC aims to tackle this at the earliest possible stage and in a sensitive way to ensure the child isn’t stigmatised.

The whole ethos of SSPC is to include young people and their parents or guardians in the process so that from the outset they are not only seen as part of the problem but as part of the solution. Interventions are viewed as positive rather than punitive.

An evaluation of SSPC undertaken by the Scottish Government showed that following the introduction of the scheme referrals to the Children’s Reporter in the area fell by 31% from 212 in 2005 to 145 in 2007.