7 RECOMMENDATIONS/GOOD PRACTICE
7.1 This evaluation has looked in detail at how the campus officer role is developing in schools throughout Scotland. The picture emerging from this study is a positive one but there are lessons to be learned. Improvements can be made to ensure that the officers provide maximum benefit both to the school and, more widely, the local community which they serve.
7.2 The findings indicate potential benefits from deploying a campus officer but it is important to get everything right. This section sets out good practice guidance to help local decision makers through the process.
Deployment
- The decision to deploy a campus officer at a particular school should be guided by police intelligence about the surrounding area with consideration given to the size and location of school.
- Communication is the key to setting up a successful campus officer placement.
- All relevant funding organisations, most commonly the police and the local authority, should be in discussions as early as possible.
- It is recommended that face to face meetings are set up early on between these agencies and the selected school to discuss set up of the initiative.
- Each officer should have clearly defined objectives tailored to their school.
- The police, the school and the local authority should all be involved in drawing up these objectives.
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Recruitment
- Campus officers should be recruited through a competitive process, advertised internally by the police on a police bulletin.
- The education sector should be represented, and have input into the choice of the officer, during the recruitment process.
- The person specification needs to be clear to reflect the differences between the campus officer role and a more traditional policing role. The following were identified as desirable skills and attributes:
- having the desire to work in an educational environment
- being tolerant/patient and a good listener, influencer and negotiator
- having a desire to work independently using their own initiative
- being approachable and friendly, yet authoritative and frank
- having a solid grounding in policing and experience of a wide range of issues including domestic abuse, child protection, youth offending and working with children
- an interest in proactive policing and experience of inter-agency working
- a good knowledge of the local area and an understanding of local issues
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Job descriptions
- Job descriptions should be drawn up using existing templates, for example, the Violence Reduction Unit ( VRU) template, with room to tailor the role to the individual tasks to be carried out at each school.
- The job description should be drawn up with the input and agreement of the police, the education authority and the school.
- Job descriptions should be used operationally to provide clear guidelines of the expected duties of the campus officer on a day to day basis and should be reviewed on a regular basis, possibly in line with the officer's annual appraisal.
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Information provision
- It is vital to provide teaching staff, parents, pupils and the surrounding community with an explanation of why the officer is at the school and what they are going to be doing pre-deployment.
- Pupils should be informed at assemblies and through pupil councils and educational staff through staff meetings. Parents can be informed at parents' evenings or by a letter from the school and the local community can be informed through newsletters.
- Consultation (with feedback) should be conducted with educational staff, pupils and the surrounding community to help develop the role once the officer has been deployed. This can be done formally or informally through discussion at staff meetings, pupil's councils or by conducting a survey or focus groups.
- A proactive approach should be taken to the media. The deployment should be publicised and the role and its aims should be explained in a press release.
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Training
- It is recommended that new campus officers shadow existing officers before taking up their post and attend inset days at the school with education staff before the school term starts. This allows them to gain experience of an education setting.
- Campus officers should make use of the national campus officer training. However, it is important for officers to attend early in their post, in the first few months, for it to be of most use.
- It is recommended that training is reviewed regularly at the officer's appraisal. The input of the school would be useful and training should be discussed at a quarterly meeting between the liaison teacher and police line manager.
- The specific training courses will depend on the role of individual officers but it is suggested that child protection training, training in the education system and technology/internet safety training are very important.
- If a handover occurs between two campus officers, a duration of 2- 4 weeks is recommended. This should consist of shadowing, the introduction of the new officer at assemblies and staff meetings and the introduction to key multi-agency workers.
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Management
- Line management of the campus officer should still be conducted by the police with a liaison teacher in the school for the officer to report to and keep updated on their activities and whereabouts.
- There should be quarterly meetings between the police line manager and the liaison teacher to make sure the deployment is running smoothly and to discuss any changes to the role. A wider annual meeting, including representatives from the funding organisations to discuss progress is also recommended.
- Appraisals should continue to be police led but schools should be given the opportunity to provide input into the review.
- During their annual appraisal, campus officer performance should be monitored against the objectives set out for their role. As previously noted with regards to job descriptions, this could be an opportunity to review objectives and to ensure they are still relevant and achievable.
- It is recommended that campus officers working in the same area should have regular meetings to share best practice.
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Length of tenure
- If possible, one individual should stay in the campus officer role for a 3 year minimum to maintain continuity of contact for pupils, the school staff and wider community.
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Group work and activities
- Campus officers should be involved in group work with pupils at risk of challenging behaviour or suffering from low self esteem. For example, through the Princes Trust XL club.
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Information sharing
- It is recommended that information sharing and liaison with other agencies such as community policing, social work services and health services is maximised in the following ways:
- providing access to the local police IT system in school for the campus officer
- campus officer attendance at multi-agency meetings when they have relevant information to contribute for a particular pupil
- locating the officer in the school alongside other agency workers such as restorative practice workers or behavioural support workers.
- ensuring that there are structures in place to facilitate the exchange and sharing of information according to the Data Protection Act 1998.
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Delivering educational inputs
- The delivery of educational sessions presented by campus officers is working well at the moment. If a topic is suitable for a police officer to present then the campus officer should do so or contact a police colleague who has expertise in the area to do so.
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Working with primary schools
- Campus officers should work with their associated primary schools. However, there are constraints on time and school location and it is suggested that officers should focus their work on primary 6 and 7 who are going through the transition period into secondary school. This would mean that primary schools still need school liaison officers for inputs to the younger pupils.
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Police duties
- The requirement for campus officers to carry out other police duties should be minimised. If it is unavoidable then the school should be informed as early as possible.
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Behaviour management
- Campus officers should not be highly involved in discipline unless the incident is very serious and the offending behaviour could be considered criminal activity. However, there are some areas of behaviour management where their contribution is valuable:
- truancy and attending home visits with the Education Welfare Officer
- attending exclusion meetings when a pupil returns to school, to emphasise the long term consequences of their behaviour.