Drugs dealing and schools

I recently attended a meeting with local Councillors, the Deputy Head of a local secondary school and the police to discuss drug dealing by pupils.

I was pleased to see the efforts being made to discover and tackle this problem. In this case with the help of the local Council, CCTV was revealing who was involved, with a good chance of taking follow up action to punish and deter .Often the drug dealing takes place outside the school grounds in public places  when pupils are going to or from school.

I am aware that this is an issue for several local schools. Senior teachers responsible for behaviour and discipline and local police are rightly concerned and engaged. Anyone with evidence or intelligence about this should send it in to the school or police, who have powers to deal with it. Seeing it and exposing it is the best way to tackle it. The authorities can best deal with it where there is reliable evidence from witnesses. Drugs can ruin young lives.

Local authorities and school budgets can stretch to CCTV and other ways of exposing danger.