Police crackdown on truants
KIDS bunking off school have become the target of a special police operation in Innsworth, Churchdown and Brockworth.
On Wednesday, February 24, officers from the Cheltenham Road East Safer Community Team, along with three Education Welfare Officers, targeted the areas.
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PC Mark Peart, who organised the operation, said: "We want both children and parents alike to realise that truanting will not be tolerated.
"Not only do children who truant risk underachieving at school, they are also putting their own safety at risk.
"They are vulnerable to becoming involved in criminal activity and disorder or becoming the victim of crime themselves."
Seven students were stopped, four of whom had valid reasons to be off school.
Two were returned to school and warning letters are being sent to their parents from the Education Welfare Officers.
One youth was arrested for breach of bail for an ongoing criminal matter.
For further information on the operation log on to www. gloucestershire. police.uk.
8 Comments
by Alan, Gloucester
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 12:39PM
“It may well be funny for some people, but there are deeper issues here. These children must have a reason for not wanting to go to school - maybe they are being bullied, or maybe they are being let down by the education system itself, it¿s impossible to tell without knowing a lot more about the case. Whatever it is, I hope the authorities will investigate it fully.”
by Albert, My Square, Gloucester
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 12:38PM
“I think we are making a bit much out of this, the fact they were caught out of school does not necessarily mean they are bad kids. Nearly everyone must have bunked off for at least one day of their school lives - maybe they were just really unlucky and got caught on the single occasion that they did it. And Kay, maybe those kids were off to the doctors, or were caring for a sick parent, but I suppose trying to see the good side of something doesn¿t come naturally does it?”
by Tarquin, The Cotswolds
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 12:38PM
“We never had a day off in our lives, the walls around the boarding school were simply too tall for us to get over.”
by Albert, my square, Gloucester
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 12:36PM
“I think we are making a bit much out of this, the fact they were caught out of school does not necessarily mean they are bad kids. Nearly everyone must have bunked off for at least one day of their school lives - maybe they were just really unlucky and got caught on the single occasion that they did it. And Kay, maybe those kids were off to the doctors, or were caring for a sick parent, but I suppose trying to see the good side of something doesn¿t come naturally does it?”
by John, Glos City
Sunday, March 14 2010, 9:43PM
“We should not expect or require police officers to deal with absenteeism from school. This is the fault of absentee parents who refuse to take any responsibility for their own children. One sure way to deal with these parents is remove state funded family allowance until they learn to comply. Sometimes You have to be cruel to be kind. No more of this namby pandering stuff Lets be Frank and Open”
by Kay Powell, Tredworth
Friday, March 12 2010, 5:09PM
“I expect that the four children who "had valid reasons" for being out of school had been excluded. There's not much that the police or truancy officers can do about that.”
by PC Society, Cheltenham
Friday, March 12 2010, 12:54PM
“Tim, Cheltenham - You are being totally unfair. I know one of these boys and he wasnt allowed a lego set as a child so if this ever went to court, he would be seen in the eyes of the jury to have been a deprived child for not having all the toys that he wanted!!!”
by Tim, Cheltenham
Friday, March 12 2010, 11:02AM
“and then they're going to expected to claim benefits as soon as they can, claiming not to be able to get a job!”