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NewsWeapons searches briefing
Date: 21.01.08
Voice policy on DfES guidance etc and further information
Metal detectors plan for schools: BBC News, 21 January 2008
New search power (DfES press notice, 31/05/07)
Guidance on Screening and Searching Pupils for Weapons, May 2007 (download/listen)
Guidance on Screening and Searching Pupils for Weapons, May 2007 (Word doc.)
Media Briefing, May 2007:
Weapons searches in schools
Voice’s briefing to TES for its article of 25 May 2007 was that head teachers should ideally hire support staff with security training to conduct body searches.
The Professional Association of Teachers, which welcomes the DfES’s guidance, has asked the department to ensure that protective clothing is included in risk assessments for staff who search potentially-dangerous pupils for knives or guns.
Heads should consider purchasing protective clothing for the school?s security office so it is available when necessary.
BBC News Online report, 25/05/07
Voice Official Response 940: Guidance on the Use of Power to Search (April 2007)
Searching pupils for weapons.
Section 45 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 came into force in England and Wales in May. It gives head teachers and authorised staff a new power to search pupils without consent when they have reasonable grounds for suspecting the pupil has a knife or other weapon. The DfES has published guidance, School Staff: Screening or Searching Pupils for Weapons (TeacherNet: School Security).
It is already an offence to carry a knife or offensive weapon in or around school premises. Only a small proportion of pupils do this so only a small number of schools will need this new power. Some schools already have metal detectors to see if pupils are carrying knives.
Legislation permits schools to require pupils to undergo screening for weapons, without suspicion and without consent, using a hand-held detector or a portable archway. The DfES recommends occasional screening of randomly selected pupils, such as a class or year group.
The new power to search a pupil requires a reasonable suspicion that a pupil has a knife or offensive weapon. It does not allow without-suspicion or random searches. The DfES assures schools that without-consent searches are not in breach of the Human Rights Act 1988 because interference with personal rights is proportionate and justified for the purpose of keeping pupils and staff safe.
The power to search is exactly that. It is not a duty. Heads cannot require any member of staff to conduct a search. Staff who agree, and are authorised to search, need training beforehand. This will cover the options before a without-consent search, emphasising that a search should only be carried out where staff judge it is safe. If staff believe a pupil is likely to physically resist a search, they should call the police.
There are conditions attached to the search. Two members of staff must be present and both must be of the same sex as the pupil searched. The searcher can require the pupil to remove outer clothing - a coat, jacket or pullover - if this is necessary. If the pupil refuses, the searcher can use reasonable force to remove outer clothing. The search cannot go beyond that and require the pupil to remove clothes beneath outerwear.
If a weapon is seized, it must be delivered to the police as soon as reasonably practicable.
David Brierley Voice Solicitor
May 2007 Screening and Searching Pupils for Weapons
A new statutory power for the Head and authorised school staff to search pupils for weapons without consent with reasonable suspicion came into effect on 31 May 2007. The relevant legislation is the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, which has resulted in an amendment to Section 550AA of the Education Act 1996. There is a DfES Guidance document, published on 31 May 2007, Screening and Searching of Pupils for Weapons: Guidance for School Staff, on TeacherNet.
The foreword to the Guidance says:
"The main ways to keep knives out of schools continue to be educating young people in better behaviour and in the dangers of illegally carrying a knife. A range of activities should contribute: programmes in school on improving behaviour; curriculum opportunities for learning about responsibility, conflict, and safety; and other DfES programmes for young people and on parenting. Police officers in schools with Safer School Partnerships can also help. The powers to screen and to search fit with these programmes, and are two more options that schools can make use of.
The Guidance adds:
"Schools generally remain safe places. Only a small percentage of children, at any time, wrongly carry knives or other weapons in school. It is already a criminal offence to bring a knife or other weapon to school. School staff can already search a pupil, with consent, as part of their authority to discipline. The power to screen without suspicion will help to deter pupils from carrying a weapon in the first place."
The main points are:
Q1. What is the power to screen and where does this appear in the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006?
A. The power to screen pupils without suspicion is not a new statutory power created by the 2006 Act. In October 2006 the Government announced that a school has power, without any new legislation, to require pupils to undergo screening. Schools can require pupils to undergo screening for weapons without suspicion and without consent. In its Guidance, the DfES recommends either a walk-through or hand-held metal detector (arch or wand) which is either "no contact" or "low contact". This screening does not involve ?patting down?, but there may be some minimal contact of the wand with the pupil?s clothing.
The DfES confirms that screening can be imposed under a school’s statutory power to make rules on behaviour and discipline. If a pupil refuses to be screened the school can refuse to have him/her on the premises or on an off-site visit.
Q2. When should pupils be screened, and by whom?
A. Schools are not compelled to use this power. If a school decides that screening will help deter pupils from carrying a weapon in the first place, the DfES recommends occasional screening of randomly selected pupils, e.g. a class or year group. Screening all pupils on entry would only be appropriate in exceptional circumstances. School staff cannot be compelled to carry out the screening. If they are willing to do this they need training. A school can use a security firm.
Q3. What is the new power introduced by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006?
A. It is a power to search a pupil or his/her possessions for offensive weapons. This means that when, after screening or otherwise, schools suspect a pupil has a weapon they can now search that pupil without consent. This includes knives, blades and any other article made or adapted for use for causing injury.
Q4. When can this new power be used?
A. It is available to the head teacher or any member of staff authorised by the head teacher who has "reasonable grounds for suspecting that a pupil at the school will have with him or in his possession" an offensive weapon.
This is a power not a duty. No member of staff can be compelled to do this. The head teacher can require a member of the school security staff to carry out a search. This means a member of staff whose work at the school consists wholly or mainly of security-related activities.
The police retain their general power to search school premises for offensive weapons where they have reasonable grounds for suspecting that they may be present.
Q5. Where can these searches be carried out?
A. They can be carried out on school premises or in other situations where the member of staff has lawful control or charge of pupils, e.g. school trips.
Q6. Must there be another adult present?
A. The search can only be carried out by a person who is of the same sex as the pupil and in the presence of another member of staff who is also the same sex as the pupil.
Q7. Are there any other requirements for the search?
A. The pupil being searched cannot be required to remove any clothing other than outer clothing, e.g. hats, shoes, boots, gloves, scarves, coats, pullovers etc. Outer clothing does not include clothing worn directly next to the skin or immediately over underwear.
Q8. Can the person carrying out the search use force?
A. Yes, but it has to be reasonable force in the circumstances and only to enable the search to be carried out.
Q9. Can a pupil?s possessions be searched?
A. A pupil?s possessions can be searched for an offensive weapon and the second member of staff has to be present.
Q10. What should be done with any offensive weapon that is found on the search?
A. The person carrying out the search is entitled to seize and retain any offensive weapon, but it must be delivered to the police as soon as reasonably practicable.
Q11. What record should a school keep of a search?
A. A record of any search should be made as soon as possible, either in an incident book or otherwise in writing, or electronically. It may help prevent any misunderstanding or later misrepresentation. Also, as it is illegal for a pupil to carry a knife or other weapon on school premises, an arrest may follow and members of staff involved in the search may be called as witnesses in the prosecution.
The DfES advises that the record should include:
Q12. Is there going to be any review of the power to search?
A. Yes. In the Government’s response to the Steer Report on school behaviour and discipline in 2005, the DfES said that the power to search would be reviewed after it had been in force for three years.
The general expectation is that this will be an important new power for a relatively small number of schools and for the majority of schools it will not be necessary to take action.
David Brierley Voice Solicitor
June 2007
Advice on the right to discipline pupils
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