Schools 'honeypots' for thieves – police

Schools 'honeypots' for thieves – police

SCHOOLS are being given a "tailor-made" service by the police, according to the senior community officer.

Chief Insp Peter Buckley said low levels of security on many school sites and large amounts of new and expensive technology meant schools are becoming one of the biggest targets for opportunistic criminals.

He said: "They are honeypots as far as some offenders are concerned and items such as TV screens and projector screens seem to be what they are going for."

Speaking to the Chronicle & Echo as part of our campaign to Protect Our Schools, Chief Insp Glover said the police were working with the local education authority, individual schools and crime and disorder partnerships to try to tackle the rising problem of criminals targeting schools for easy gains.

And he said the police did not plan to take a county-wide approach to the problem as the circumstances of each school were unique.

He added: "We don't have a "one size fits all" approach to crimes committed against schools, because it doesn't work.

"The way we work is to try to tailor approaches which fit the needs of individual schools.

"All schools are different and as far as we are concerned the local teams know the schools on their area and are often able to deal with local problems effectively. If necessary we can scale up our approach to a problem. If a problem extends over a wider area the larger our response."

Schools with an ongoing problem with vandalism and break-ins can call Protect Our Schools campaign reporter Melissa Lee on Northampton 467036 or email her on melissa.lee@northants news.co.uk