Sirens blare and guns blaze at school

The Florida and Roodepoort SAPS along with ER24 Joburg West branch held a child safety awareness campaign at Laerskool Gustav Preller.

The school invited the guests to speak to the pupils and educate them about bullying, kidnapping and theft, the Roodepoort Record reported.

The schools sports ground was filled with red smoke as the morning started off with a mock cellphone robbery to show how easily it can be stolen and what measures to take during the incident.

The police chased after the suspects with guns and apprehended them to the delight of the pupils.

School Governing Body member Maria Hugo organized the event because of recent suicide incidents that have plagued the country.

“We have a zero tolerance for bullying and we want to educate the pupils about its effects and who to report it. Drugs and suicide has been on the increase in certain schools and we want to prevent that. We want them to know there is always a solution and encourage other schools to do the same. The police are there and willing to help,” she said.

After the mock celphone robbery, Warrant officer Tobie Holland spoke to the pupils about not trusting strangers as they want to harm them, how to deal with bullies at school and not to take things that do not belong to them.

Warrant Officer Riaan Jooste from Social Crime Prevention said they usually conduct these mock incidents during child protection week.

“The school invited us and we were more than happy to educate the pupils. This creates a bigger impression on the children when it comes from us who deal with crime than teachers. If any other schools are interested in inviting us to their school can contact me,” he said.

ER24 West Branch manager Hentie Malan was also present at the event and said their branch go out to schools to educate pupils often.

“We are here to educate the children on what to do during an emergency and what numbers to contact. Many a time a parent will collapse and the child will not know what to do. They are also afraid of the boards that we use to transport the patient into the ambulance so we want to show them there is nothing to fear,” said Hentie.