Young Crime Liners launched

The Gauteng Department of Education, Crime Line and the South African Police Service have joined forces in a bid to equip pupils with safe and reliable tools to report crime and social issues in Gauteng schools.

“We want you (pupils) to report any form of violence, whether it be bullying, physical and sexual assault and corporal punishment in your school,” Creecy said.

She said the department recognizes that it has a responsibility to continually work towards a school environment in which pupils, teachers and school principals feel and are safe.

“The launch of the Young Crime Liners indicates our commitment to ensuring learning and teaching takes place in a safe environment, free from violence.

“The police can’t be everywhere, but you are there and you have a lot of information about criminal activity.

“We hope that this initiative will empower our pupils to seek help and report crime happening in our schools,” said Creecy.

The department will be rolling out the Young Crime Liners initiative school by school in Gauteng. The Young Crime Liners is an additional intervention to the department’s five year Schools Safety Strategy that guides schools and departmental officials in their work.

The five year School Safety Plan hinges on five pillars:

· Standardised school policy development and implementation

· Psychosocial support and promotion of alternative forms of discipline

· Advocacy programmes

· Active Law enforcement in partnerships with law enforcement agencies

· Effectively securing the physical environs of schools

As part of implementing the strategy, the department, has as of this year, put mechanisms in place to compile statistics of bullying and violence in schools.

The initiative comes in the wake of an alarming number of incidents that have dominated social media networks, illustrating the high levels of bullying and other criminal behaviour in schools.

“We have seen a number of videos go viral and stories dominating headlines of a variety of crimes perpetrated by or against children at schools in the province.

“They range from cases of sexual abuse, bullying, drug dealing and violence, unfortunately these cases go mainly unreported with tragic consequences,” said Head of Crime Line, Yusuf Abramjee.

Creecy urged pupils to use the tip-off lines as “we were able to arrest pupils who brought a gun to school, because of information you brought us.”

“The Young Crime Liners initiative aims to empower pupils with tools to break the silence around criminal and social issues that they face on a daily basis.

“It is also open to parents, teachers and the public to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our children,” Abramjee said.

Crime Line’s anonymous 32211 SMS service (Costs R1) and Crime Stop’s 08600 10111 are open to Young Crime Liners to report crime without revealing their identity.

Tip-offs that refer to criminal behaviour will be dealt with by the police, while problems requiring social interventions will be escalated to the relevant support structures.

“The initiative aims to find ways that we can support and guide our children when crimes are committed against them.

“Children are often afraid to report certain crimes for a variety of reasons, but we are offering them a chance to speak up within a safe environment,” Abramjee added.

The initiative will be absorbed into schools over the coming months as the Young Crime Liners programme will visit schools across the province