Violence in schools 2022-2024
Request
1. The number of reports to your police force involving a child (16 and under) threatening a member of staff with an offensive weapon on school premises in the following years:
2022/23
2023/24
2. The number of reports to your police force where a child (16 and under) is in possession of an offensive weapon on school premises in the following years:
2022/23
2023/24
3. The number of reports involving a child (16 and under) physically assaulting a member of staff on school premises in the following years:
2022/23
2023/24
4. If possible please provide a breakdown to the total in Q3 by type of assault. How many were common assault, actual bodily harm, or grievous bodily harm in the following years:
Common Assault:
2022/23
2023/24
Actual bodily Harm:
2022/23
2023/24
Grievous bodily harm:
2022/23
2023/24
5. The number of times a school in your area has reported enforcing a
'lockdown' measure due to threat towards staff and pupils in the following
years:
2022/23
2023/24
6. How many of those reports in Q5 involved an intruder for the following
years:
2022/23
2023/24
Response
We approached our Crime Management Data Returns Administrator for assistance with your request. The Connect System is used to record complaints or allegations of those matters, which the Home Office specify should be recorded as ‘crime’.
They provided us with the following explanation of their search criteria and below information:
Based upon Incident Created Date is between 01/04/2022 and 31/03/2024, SYP & crime only filter, HO Classification is equal to 008/27, 008/28, 008/63. Please note that the results provided may include incidents which have received more than one report in the count.
Criteria Used - Incident Created Date is between 01/04/2022 and 31/03/2024, SYP & crime only filter, HO Classification is equal to 008/27, 008/28, 008/63, Person Role is equal to SUSPECT, SUSPECT (ELIMINATED), SUSPECT (INSUFFICIENT TO PROCEED), SUSPECT (INTERVIEWED), SUSPECT (NO ACTION) EVIDENTIAL DIFF., SUSPECT (NO ACTION) TIME LIMIT EXPIRED, SUSPECT (NOT INTERVIEWED), SUSPECT (PROSECUTION PREVENTED), SUSPECT PRE ATHENA, Age At Incident is less than or equal to 16.
1. 2022/23 – 2
2023/24 – 0
2. 2022/23 – 30
2023/24 – 24
3. 2022/23 – 0
2023/24 – 0
4. We are unable to answer whether there was a physical assault or the type of assault that took place (ABH, GBH, CA ect) this is due to the Home Office Counting Rules – General Rules - The Principal Crime Rule (1 of 1) - IF THE SEQUENCE OF CRIMES IN AN INCIDENT, OR A COMPLEX CRIME, CONTAINS MORE THAN ONE TYPE OF CRIME, THEN COUNT THE MOST SERIOUS. This means in the example of a child bringing an offensive weapon to school, stabbing, and killing someone, this would be recorded as a murder over the offences listed above as murder is the most serious offence. No information held.
Please view below the Home Office Counting Rules for the recording guidelines used for the forces.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counting-rules-for-recorded-crime
5. As a force we would not record this. No information held.
6. Same as Q5.
Please note, every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that data has been extracted from data sources used by this force for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording systems and information assets.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures/data for any requests may have limitations, and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
Police forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures for capturing the data. For these reasons this response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with responses you may receive from other police forces.