Perth councillor calls for school incident report

Sep 18 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A PERTH councillor has called for a report from police on the number of incidents taking place in and around schools in Tayside.

It followed a report in a national newspaper which indicated that officers had been alerted to almost 3,000 incidents.

Now, Councillor Alexander Stewart, leader of the Conservative Group on Perth and Kinross Council and a member of the Tayside Joint Police Board, has asked for more statistics.

Councillor Stewart questioned Acting Depute Chief Constable Bill Harkins on the matter at the latest police board meeting in Forfar.

Councillor Stewart said: “We are continually being told that reported crime in all categories is falling but there seems to be an alarming number of incidents occurring in and around schools.

“There is also the ongoing problem of congestion and traffic offences that occur at the start and the end of the school day when parents or guardians pick up or drop off school children,” he added.

“I am aware that in my own ward of Perth South there have been a number of such incidents occurring which required police attendance.

“It is important that young people are held to account if and when they do break the law but a number of these incidents are occurring among very young children who can't always be held responsible for their actions.”