Police officer joins school staff

Keith Mulloy will be stationed at the school

A north east school is believed to be leading the way in Scotland by becoming the first to have a police officer on its staff.

The aim of the initiative is to help reduce crime on an estate in Aberdeen.

Police Constable Keith Mulloy's beat will be at Northfield Academy from next month.

Northfield Academy is pioneering the idea

The officer will be at the secondary school every day during school hours.

It is hoped that having a police officer as part of the staff will help youngsters who might otherwise be drawn into committing crime.

In addition to cutting crime, the aims are to reduce truancy and improve behaviour at school.

It is also thought that having a full time policeman in the local school will benefit the wider community in the Northfield area.

Assistant head teacher Susan Alley said: "We are hoping that we can deal with difficulties very quickly.

"In the longer term, we hope to change children's attitudes and make them better citizens and make the community a safer place."

Earlier this year UK Education Secretary Estelle Morris announced proposals to station police officers in schools with high truancy and discipline problems south of the border.

Street crime

Under the scheme - which will be voluntary for schools - up to 100 officers will be posted in about 70 schools in London, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool.

These officers will also conduct "sweeps" of local shopping centres to round up truants and combat rising levels of street crime.

A pilot scheme has already been carried out in the London Borough of Southwark.

This suggested that a police presence reduced crime in participating schools by as much as 95%.