THE Jamaica Teachers Association yesterday gave a cautious welcome to the government's programme to place police officers at 60 public schools, as part of an initiative to stem the level of violence at the institutions.

However, the teachers' union, which represents more than 20,000 of the island's public school teachers, said it was not party to the discussions and yesterday sought more information on how the cops would be deployed.

"We are anxious as everybody else to see a reduction and elimination of these problems (violence) in the schools, but we would like to know that it is done in a structured way and that the best interest of the students and teachers is taken into consideration," Wentworth Gabbidon, the JTA's president, told the Observer yesterday.

He admitted, however, that the police had initially approached the JTA earlier this year about the initiative, but follow-up meetings that should have taken place did not materialise.
"We just met in passing and I was told that the commissioner was thinking of these strategies and would like to discuss them with us and with the ministry and I heard nothing more. So I don't know the details of what is going to happen, how it is going to work or whatever," he said.

The JTA president added that the schools, including teachers, would need to know, among other things, how they were expected to work along with the officers, saying they would need time to prepare the students for the police presence inside the schools' gates.
But Gabbidon said the JTA supported the commissioner's decision but wanted to be "involved in what is going on".

The announcement by Police Commissioner Francis Forbes on Thursday came against the increasing concerns by both public and private sector officials about the high level of violence in public schools.
Figures for 2004 were not available, but last year violence in schools left three students dead while attacks on teachers and students left another 25 persons injured.

A police spokesperson said Thursday that a few of the police officers to be stationed at public schools may carry sidearms, but that in those cases their firearms would be concealed. The placement of armed cops would, however, be dependent on the areas which the cops are deployed.
Forbes said Thursday that the cops selected to be placed at the schools have been specially trained under the Schools Resource Officer (SRO) programme.

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