Dozens of police officers have been assigned as liaison officers for public schools.
According to Director of the National Crime Prevention Office Superintendent Stephen Dean, those officers will only be assigned to junior and senior high schools and will begin their work as liaison officers when the new school year starts on Monday.
After coming to office in 2007, the Free National Movement administration dismantled the school policing program that was left in place by the Progressive Liberal Party government.
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said police officers are not babysitters.
While the old program involved stationing officers on school campuses, Dean said the new program will not require that officers physically stay on school grounds. Instead, each officer will be available to school administrators when needed.
He said assigning an officer to each school will give the force a direct link to schools and their issues. He added that police officials believe assigning an officer to each school will also reduce school violence.
