Police deal with catalogue of weapons in schools

Jun 23 2008 Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post

SCHOOL children in Merseyside and Cheshire are coming face to face with weapons in their classrooms ranging from knives to a petrol bomb, the Daily Post can reveal.

Last year alone, Cheshire Police dealt with almost a dozen guns at schools.

And Merseyside Police filed 27 weapons-related charges following call-outs to schools during 2006 and 2007.

These figures – released under the Freedom of Information act – reveal a harrowing portrait of schoolyard violence.

In one of the most alarming cases, a petrol bomb was found by police at Sir Thomas Boteler school, in Warrington, last year.

Air rifles, ball bearing (BB) guns and several "unidentified firearms" were found at 10 Cheshire schools. Four out of every five times the county’s police are called to a school to deal with a weapon, a gun is involved.

And weapons are not just a secondary school problem in the county. More than 40% of call-outs were to schools with pupils aged 11 and under.

Pupils will seemingly use all sorts of objects as a weapon – a pencil, chairs, bricks, eggs, scissors and a staple gun have been used to attack fellow pupils and teachers.

Merseyside Police charged eleven 13 to 17-year-olds with assault using a weapon in schools over the past two years.

There were five charges for possessing an offensive weapon in Merseyside schools over the same period. Those weapons included a screwdriver, a piece of wood and penknives.

Weapons were also used in eight counts of criminal damage. Pupils lashed out with a fire extinguisher, a rivet gun and snooker balls swung inside a sock.

Last year, Cheshire Police recorded 21 incidents involving weapons in schools. There have been 79 call-outs since 2001.

A baseball bat was wielded at Frodsham School and a Stanley knife was brandished at Halton High School, in Runcorn, last year.

And police dealt with a knife at Ditton Primary school, also in 2007.

Merseyside schools appear to have fewer guns found on their campuses than Cheshire. In the two years covered by their statistics, just one gun charge was recorded – a public order offence for carrying a BB gun.

The offender, who was between 14 and 16 years old, was given a fixed penalty notice.

Merseyside’s figures only cover incidents on school grounds that took place while the school was in session.

The force also said they could only release figures for incidents that ended with someone being charged. That was not the case for Cheshire's statistics.

Head teachers in Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, St Helens and Knowsley are allowed to use their discretion when dealing with weapons.

It is possible guns are not being taken into Merseyside schools. But schools could be dealing with them internally or, most alarmingly, pupils carrying them are not being charged by police.

In September last year, a 10-year- old boy was sent home from Mosspits primary school, Wavertree, after his teacher found he had brought a BB gun into school.

Although police were called, no charges were brought because they said no laws had been broken.

That incident and others like it are not included in these statistics.

Liverpool City Council insists that every time an "offensive weapon" is found in a school, the police should be called – a policy echoed by the other Merseyside and Cheshire authorities.

A city council spokesperson said: "The guidance provided to schools is in line with government advice which states that incidents involving offensive weapons should be reported to police.

"We have every confidence that headteachers are abiding by it.

"Schools and partner agencies run a wide range of educational projects for pupils outlining the dangers of weapons and the consequences for individuals, families and local communities.”

A Merseyside Police spokesperson said: "Merseyside Police work closely with all of the local education authorities, and have confidence in senior teachers' ability to decide when a matter is serious enough to require police involvement.

"To help build relationships between the police and young people, each school across Merseyside has a link officer assigned to them, and some have officers based there full time under the Safer Schools Partnership initiative."

Avis Gilmore, the National Union of Teachers' North West regional secretary, said under legislation that came into force in June last year, head teachers and other trained school staff have the power to search pupils for knives.

But, she added, after a "straw poll" of the region's schools, she was not aware of any head using the new powers.

She told the Daily Post: "There are a number of authorities who have advised head teachers to call the police instead.

"Staff have to be properly trained to do it. There also has to be consultation with parents.

"If a pupil is brandishing a weapon, the police will undoubtedly be called. These kind of incidents are obviously very serious.

“They need dealing with immediately and seriously.

Ms Gilmore added that she was not aware of any statistics suggesting violent incidents are increasing.

A spokesperson for Cheshire Council said: "Of the 79 weapons incidents in schools recorded by Cheshire Police during this seven-year period, only half (40) occurred in Cheshire County Council schools.

"Taking into account we have some 350 schools with 100,000 pupils, this indicates how rare such incidents are.

"However, we are not complacent about the issue and no school will tolerate a weapon on its premises.

"If any pupil is found with a weapon, the police will be contacted immediately."

Pinaki Ghosal, head of service improvement and inclusion at Warrington Borough Council, said: "We are confident that we have procedures in place to deal with any situations of this nature. Schools have guidelines to assist them with critical incidents and work closely with Cheshire Police to reduce incidents.

"The number of these types of incidents is extremely rare in Warrington , but any serious incidents are reported to the police immediately.

"The safety of all our pupils is paramount and we take swift and appropriate action when a situation of this nature arises."