Portsmouth schools have 'closed door approach' to police, says deputy crime commissioner

During a discussion about the new Hampshire Race Plan, aimed at reducing discrimination within policing, at Wednesday's health and wellbeing board meeting, Terry Norton said it was 'increasingly hard' for police officers to engage with schools.

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Members of the board were told black people were disproportionately more likely to have police powers used on them and decades of work to improve the situation had only had a 'limited' effect.

Mr Norton, also a Portsmouth city councillor and the Conservative spokesman for education, said ‘lots of work’ was being done but there was ‘always more to do’.

Responding to a question from board chairwoman Linda Collie, about work being done with schools to improve trust, he said he was worried difficulties in engaging with many was ‘leaving gaps’ in children's education.

‘There are areas where there are schools who are still have a very, very closed door approach to external agencies,’ he said. ‘That may be because of academisation or chasing league tables but it's increasingly hard for police officers to get into that education space in some areas.

'What you're left with is overworked teachers who teach citizenship and PSHE as a second or third subject using generic resources and maybe not doing them justice because it's not their priority.'

He said Hampshire police wanted to recruit more black police officers and school engagement was key to achieving that. It employs six school liaison officers.

Council education officers offered to talk to schools police were struggling to work with.