School based police officers

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.024173

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. How many school-based police officers (including Safer Schools Officers or personnel bearing other titles that may cover police staff who spend some of their time on a school site) are there currently in your police force?

If possible, please can this be broken down by:

(i) The name of the school
(ii) The number of officers based at the school currently

2. Are there plans to introduce or add more in the 2022/2023 academic year, if so, how many?

3. Has there been any consultation with any of the listed school-stakeholders (below) in decisions to introduce or add school-based police officers (including Safer Schools Officers or personnel bearing other titles that may cover police staff who spend some of their time on a school site) to any of the schools:

School governors
Parents and carers of school children
School children
Local community groups

Clarification:
Re Q1. Thanks for your reply. If the information as requested is not disclosable - yes, please do go ahead with the amount of school officers by borough.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Q1 - How many school-based police officers (including Safer Schools Officers or personnel bearing other titles that may cover police staff who spend some of their time on a school site) are there currently in your police force?

If possible, please can this be broken down by:

(i) BCU(Borough Command Unit)

Abbreviations:
PCP - Police & Crime Plan
S&Y - Schools & Youth
SSO - Safer Schools Officer
YEDO - Youth Engagement & Diversion Officer

VPCC - Volunteer Police Cadet Coordinators

S&Y CONTSTABLES
BCU	SSO	YEDO	VPCC	S&Y Total
AS - Central South	27	4	2	33
AW - Central West	23	28	3	54
CE - Central East	25	5	2	32
CN - Central North	31	6	2	39
EA - East Area	35	3	3	41
NA - North Area	37	2	2	41
NE - North East	34	3	2	39
NW - North West	29	9	3	41
SE - South East	36	7	3	46
SN - South Area	29	6	3	38
SW - South West	37	4	4	45
WA - West Area	30	7	3	40
MPS Total	373	84	32	489

Q2 - Are there plans to introduce or add more in the 2022/2023 academic year, if so, how many?

We await the publishing of the Mayors PCP & of course any decision by the new commissioner on any intended further resourcing for S&Y, bearing in mind the needs of the organisation in different areas.

Q3 - Has there been any consultation with any of the listed school-stakeholders (below) in decisions to introduce or add school-based police officers (including Safer Schools Officers or personnel bearing other titles that may cover police staff who spend some of their time on a school site) to any of the schools:

School governors
Parents and carers of school children
School children
Local community groups

Every safer schools team is borough based & every schools team would work with local school heads, governors & local education leads in deciding where SSOs are based in line with the safer Schools partnership agreement. This is a multi-agency approach & is ultimately down to the individual schools on what police cooperation is required. Young people are consulted in regards to a large scale youth surveys that are prepared by MOPAC every 3 years. We are waiting on the results of the 2021/22 survey regarding the views of young persons & the role of police generally & in schools.