Bullying, kidnapping, assault and murder

Bullying, kidnapping,assault and murder What can be done to better protect our school children?

The blatant daylight kidnapping-for-ransom of 6-year-old Amy-Lee de Jager outside her school in Vanderbijlpark last month raised concerns among parents about the safety of their children in and around their schools.

Then, in another horrific incident, a 14-year-old from Thuto Tiro School in Sebokeng, Johannesburg, died after being stabbed with a pair of scissors in a playfight.

These are not isolated crimes in South Africa. Every year, its young learners are abused, attacked or bullied by their peers, carers and teachers.

While fourth industrial revolution (4IR) security technology is increasingly being embraced the world over, in a country where poverty and unemployment are rampant, the cost of upgrading existing security systems can only be borne by the well-heeled, and certainly not by statefunded or subsidised entities.

In an article in the Cape Argus, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde sees increasing the school day as a solution to youthful criminality. With structured activities and adult supervision, he sees it as one way of keeping vulnerable kids off the streets and away from bad influences.

The danger within However, says Jenny Reid, CEO of iFacts, children are regularly abused or taken advantage of while in the care of school teachers.

“The National Register for Sexual Offenders (NRSO) – established through an Act of Parliament in 2007 – lists people who have been convicted of sexual offences against children and is available to schools, creches and other child-orientated institutions,” she says.

The problem is that the South African Council for Educators (SACE) system is manually driven, with results taking up to eight months.

While SACE has been successful in ensuring that police clearance certificates are mandatory for those wanting to be registered as educators, Mr Reid says that criminal checks in South Africa are not great risk indicators owing to the country’s low conviction rate and lack of reporting of sexual offences.

Accordingly, she believes that social media risk assessments and integrity tests need to be added to the regulations around those wanting to work with children. “It’s also hugely important to implement ongoing assessments as people’s circumstances change which could, in turn, affect their risk profile.”

Aside from teachers, she says drivers of school vehicles should also be carefully vetted and their licenses and public driving permits verified ahead of being employed. “If you have children being cared for by teachers, tutors, coaches, drivers or carers, it is your parental duty to ensure that these people have been screened.”

Screening, she adds, needs to include credit checks, verification of matric certificates, tertiary qualifications and references on CVs, and checking the Sexual Offenders Role.

Internal violence A major concern for Benedict Weaver of Zero Foundation Africa is internal violence and specifically bullying in schools. While parents are rightly concerned about kidnapping and murder, bullying in far too many instances, is slipping under the radar, he maintains.

“A review of security breaches at schools since 2015 indicates that bullying and gender-based violence are the most common threats faced by pupils today,” says Mr Weaver. However, other security breaches include sexually motivated assaults, some of which lead to teenage pregnancies, attacks by pupils on teachers and vice versa, as well as the growing presence of gangsterism and drug abuse within schools.

To this end, he believes security protocols at schools need to be urgently revised. “Typically, a school has two basic assets: its property (buildings, classrooms, playing fields, ablution blocks, libraries and cafeterias) and its occupants (pupils, teachers, staff and contractors). Current security initiatives, he believes, are ill-suited to the threats to these assets, both from within and outside the school’s perimeter.

“When we visit schools and other educational institutions, our first request is for a threat history from the principal. Then, we walk the full perimeter. From these two actions, a wealth of information can be gathered concerning the school’s security deficiencies,” he explains.

“Many schools don’t have a documented threat history, either because incidents reported by security officers are neither reviewed nor consolidated; or when security breaches do occur, they are poorly investigated, and disciplinary action is not instituted.”

“The perimeter walkabout shows areas of easy access and egress from the grounds as well as blind spots which are used to hide in during breaks,” he explains. “These factors allow us to grade a school from 1 to 5 on a Security Responsiveness Index (SRI). This SRI provides a template for discussion, planning, budgeting and implementation of a cost-effective security strategy.”

While schools are increasingly employing contract guards to manage access control, parking and (sometimes) the monitoring of CCTV cameras, Mr Weaver says these initiatives are not suitable responses to situations involving bullying, assaults, and active shooters.

“We have identified several reasons for security failures at schools and these include outdated security systems, teachers not being held accountable for the physical protection of pupils, and a culture of protest that has arisen because education isn’t proving to be the panacea to society’s problems as hoped.”

“Elsewhere in the world (Europe, Asia, Russia and Latin America), education contributes to a heightened sense of civic responsibility, greater productivity and a better standard of living. In South Africa, our poor education system has prevented the children of today from becoming effective contributors of tomorrow’s economy,” he says.

Soft targets Brian Sharkey, MD of SMC (Security Management Consultants), says that while all schools face similar threats, the levels of specific threats differ. Private schools might see kidnapping, drugs and sexual predators as high risk, rural schools might be more concerned about knife crimes.

“There is no doubt that schools are perceived as relatively soft targets, and not just after hours when there is little or no activity,” says Mr Sharkey.

To counter modern-day crime trends within schools, he advocates multi-disciplinary systems with alarm, monitoring, access control and evacuation components.

He explains: “Schools have changed a lot in recent years in terms of how they educate and in particular the technology being used. Laptops, cell phones, desktops and handheld devices are now very common, and all have a value to the criminal.”

To this end, schools are increasingly operating on a “cash-free” basis, and advertising this at their entrances, Mr Sharkey says.

Schools are also paying more attention to key control – no easy feat considering that this applies to classrooms, offices, sports fields, ablutions and gates. But big bunches of keys are a major risk, not only because of their availability to so many but also because of the risk of being stolen, lost or duplicated.

Biometric technology is at the heart of new era locking and pedestrian access controls, he adds, and it doesn’t necessarily have to come with a heavy price tag.

“There are some good school key control systems available on the market with various levels of accessibility for tighter control,” he says, adding that some of the best safety solutions come from simply changing or implementing new procedures.

“Many security system suppliers offer CCTV, access control and perimeter monitoring systems on a full rental basis if funds for an upgrade are not immediately available,” he points out.

Vulnerabilities and threats Anthony Feuilherade, Business Development Director for Excellerate Services, lists the major threats to schools as drugs and aggressive crimes using knives and firearms. The latter is a growing threat, he says, along with kidnappings, and must be taken very seriously.

Kids from wealthy families are particularly at risk at these schools and campuses. Typically, schools and campuses have electronic alarm systems fitted with panic buttons for the security guards on site, as well as manned security at strategic positions. After hours, the schools and campuses are normally locked down, but the campuses close later due to libraries being used for studies.

“These systems do work,” he says, but he believes that more technology needs to be added. Facial recognition cameras and biometric access control systems are now vital, as are secured drop-off and pick-up zones manned by security guards trained to respond to kidnapping threats.

“Kids who have to walk to and from school or campuses, have more chance of being kidnapped, robbed or assaulted en route,” he adds, “so to reduce the inherent risk of public commuting, students should have panic systems installed on their phones with GPS positioning to establish their exact location.

“All education institutions should be implementing more security measures as a result of the crime trends in South Africa and the fact that criminals are aware that every student or lecturer has a cell phone, computer, wallet or purse on them at all times.”

Other high-risk areas According to Mr Sharkey, some of the most vulnerable schools today are girls-only institutions, where the staff component is largely female. This makes the likelihood of any resistance minimal.

The vast majority of schools pay little attention to securing their boundaries, believing that an alarm system inside a building is sufficient, he adds.

Schools that still accept cash payments as opposed to Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT) are also high risk. Aside from the dangers of regular cash-in-transit (CIT) collections, there is also enormous danger in terms of daily banking, which often falls to administrative staff. Just as dangerous is leaving cash overnight in strong rooms or safes.

How schools are stepping up security systems A good school security system needs to include five principles, says Mr Weaver:

• Control of the security environment. This includes effective access control which not only records who enters the premises but also ensures that they leave. For example, if a contractor is signing into the premises, their car keys or identity cards should be retained until they leave.

• Intent. Training teachers and staff to recognise suspicious behaviour and use tactical communications to alert security about a threat is a far more effective screening process then a body search, metal detector or screening.

• Distance. A defined perimeter that not only demarcates the school grounds but also advises its occupants about someone’s intent at a greater distance. If somebody attempts to climb the fence or cut through it, they are clearly trespassing with an intent to cause harm.

• Time. Using the security concept of 4 Ds (Deter, Deny, Detect and Delay), the best way to save pupils during critical situations is to delay an attacker and shorten the response times by security personnel. Aside from properly installed doors and locks, windows also need to be secured.

• Response. This relates to how staff respond to an emergency, a critical element of policy development, procedural guidelines and training. Do they act in a defensive way to move the school community away from a threat or do they act in an offensive way and move towards the threat to prevent it occurring? Mr Sharkey says it’s a challenge for most schools to implement strict access controls without causing long vehicle queues at peak drop-off times. The answer for some is a simple sticker on the windscreen, but it’s a system that requires extreme vigilance in terms of checking and being consistently on the look-out for suspicious persons or vehicles.

“Technology is slowly but effectively being introduced to deal with the high volumes of traffic at peak times such as ANPR and RFID systems, which will automatically grant access at specific set times” says Mr Sharkey. “Off-peak driver’s licence and vehicle scanning has become the norm, along with visitor confirmation, a process made more efficient when expected visitors are pre-announced.”

On the back of increasing utilisation of taxis by scholars (and perpetrators to aid their escape), Mr Sharkey says schools are implementing stricter controls on access, either by banning taxis from the grounds or establishing designated waiting areas where taxis are closely monitored.

If money were no object…

Perimeters With the detection of an intrusion on the perimeter as important as the control exercised at the main gates, Mr Sharkey says electric fencing is a vital component of any school security system. Trends include fibre optic detection systems and more aesthetically pleasing and effective steel-mesh type fencing. They can be kept in a permanent high voltage or low voltage mode during the day but can still detect an intrusion, and zoned accordingly so an affected area can quickly be determined, and a response initiated. “Electric fencing is usually placed above the steel mesh fence to increase the height aspect and keep it well out of the reach of pupils and students. Palisade in its day was sufficient and relatively inexpensive as a barrier, but no longer serves as an effective barrier on a secure perimeter.”

CCTV Apart from the obvious access control and perimeter protection needs of schools, areas and facilities such as lockers, administrative and public areas also require monitoring, says Mr Sharkey. This becomes even more of a challenge during fund-raising and sports events, where other schools participate, and which are open to members of the public. Petty criminals seize such opportunities to pick pockets, steal handbags and cell phones or break into vehicles. Pared with alert, patrolling security officers, CCTV has proved to be very successful in deterring this type of criminal activity, he says.

Security guarding and armed response services The provision of security guarding services to schools has become much more specialised to meet with clients’ needs, says Mr Sharkey. “It’s a huge responsibility for security officers working in such an environment, where they not only have to ensure the well-being of students and staff but also the security of the building and the premises. And like all other service providers to educational institutions, officers have to be cleared in terms of the sexual offences register.

Case history St Teresa’s Junior Primary and High Schools in Rosebank have just upgraded their security following an initial security assessment by SMC. Says SMC CEO / MD Brian Sharkey: St Teresa’s governing board and management recognised the need to improve both the physical and procedural aspects of their security at both campuses. This included upgrades to the perimeter along with physical and detection capabilities. They introduced a 64 channel IP-based CCTV system, substantially improved the lighting in public areas and outsourced the security and armed response service. They also established a specific site security operational procedures plan for the school.