Safe Searching

As a general rule, it is not in the public interest for young persons to go about armed with offensive weapons. This applies even though they may believe they may possibly be attacked. There is an ever growing knife culture amongst the young persons attending educational premises and the Government introduced a new law to combat this trend in May 2007.

A Youth Justice Board survey found that 33,000 of 11 to 16-year-olds had admitted carrying a knife in school, however, in one year, there were only 170 convictions of under16s for carrying a knife, 37 for carrying them within a school.

Section 45 Power of members of staff to search school pupils for weapons

Section 46 Power to search further education students for weapons

And section 47 Power to search persons in attendance centres for weapons

Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 (c. 38)

Provide a power for members of school staff, further education colleges and attendance centres to search pupils, students and persons attending the centre respectively for weapons

 Alan Johnson, the ex-labour Education Secretary stated, Every child has the right to learn in a secure and safe environment. The main way to keep knives out of our schools is to continue educating young people about the dangers associated with illegally carrying a knife. But one violent crime caused by a weapon is one too many.

He said that the new power was called for by teachers, but our guidance makes clear that a search should never take place where there is any risk to staff or pupils. In those circumstances the police should be called.

He added: Schools can also use metal detector arches and wands to screen pupils for knives where the head feels this is helpful. I think parents will welcome the clear message that bringing a weapon into school is a criminal offence and will not be tolerated.

Dealing with knives and people who are carrying them is dangerous and needs to be dealt with correctly. In addition, staff have to comply with the law such as who may carry out the search, where it may be conducted and the extent of the search; what reasonable force may be used in order to conduct the search and the power to seize certain articles if they are found. There is also the need to know the definition of a member of staff. Screening and searching can be carried out by professionally trained security staff, as well as teachers.

 At TrainingTeams, we will safely guide you through the law and give you lots of opportunity to practice safe searches using the four quadrant search process, understanding the need for contact and cover and all trained by experienced, qualified trainers who are experts in their field.
 
The training is not in legal speak and gives a lot of opportunity for questions and problem solving. The physical training does not require massive amounts of skill or strength, instead we train breakaway techniques that are realistic, simple and effective. We train to de-escalate and not inflame the situation thereby reducing the chances of injury to everyone involved.