London schools are at risk of “increased violence” and “gang exploitation” following the decision to remove specialist police officers, headteachers have told Sky News.
Education leaders are “urging” the Metropolitan Police to reconsider a decision to transfer 371 safer schools officers into neighbourhood policing teams next month.
Teachers warn pupils will be at “greater risk” of violence as a result – and some students told Sky News they were worried “more knives” and “more drugs” would be brought into schools.
Safer schools officers were introduced into London schools in 2009, where they help de-escalate peer-on-peer conflict and prevent youth involvement in crime.
In a letter obtained by Sky News, a group of 15 headteachers from secondary schools in northeast London have written to the Met Police warning that “without the support of safer school officers, vulnerable students may become prey to exploitation and, in turn, perpetrators of crime”.
Sam Jones, chair of The Waltham Forest Secondary Heads group, which wrote the letter, said teachers were “extremely concerned” about the withdrawal of safer school officers and they had not been consulted about the decision.
Image: Sam Jones is the chair of The Waltham Forest Secondary Heads group
Mr Jones told Sky News that the decision was “very misguided”.
“We think that it will increase in violence, potentially increase bullying and weapons-related incidents,” he said.
Safer schools officers are a “key deterrent when it comes to gang recruitment and county lines issues,” he added.
“I think this is a huge backward step.”
Knife crime hit a record high of 16,521 offences in London in the year ending September 2024 – an 18% increase from the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Students from Footsteps Trust in London said the removal of officers could make schools more violent.
“There will be more knives,” Tyrelle, 14, told Sky News. “There will be fighting, there will be drugs coming into school and no one will be there to actually stop it.”
“If anything happens outside of school you can tell them [the safer school officer] and let them know,” he added.
Image: Tyrelle believes the Met’s decision means there will be more knives in schools
Another pupil, Mikolej, 15, said having an officer in their school had been a “good thing” that had helped young people “speak more to police officers outside of school”.
Image: Mikolej said having an officer in school had helped young people
Chris Hall, headteacher of Footsteps Trust, told Sky News it was “quite staggering” that no one in education was consulted about the decision.
He said the school-based officers had been “very, very, valuable assets” who had helped familiarise “young people with the police in the most positive way”.
Image: Chris Hall, the headteacher at Footsteps Trust, said the lack of consultation was ‘staggering’
“I would 100% ask them [the Met] to re-consider,” Mr Hall said.
Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy echoed calls for the police force to think again, telling Sky News she hoped the force would “sit down with all of us so that we can work together on this”.
In a letter to headteachers, the Met said the changes will come into effect from 2 May and that the decision was “not made lightly”.
The force said the changes aimed to improve their presence in the community.
Glen Pavelin, frontline policing commander for neighbourhoods, said: “Although officers will no longer be based in schools, they will join local policing teams where they will retain strong relationships with schools to ensure that any incidents of reports of knife crime can be dealt with quickly.
“Officers will also work with local organisations and other youth-based establishments to safeguard young people, prevent victimisation and reduce crime and anti-social behaviour beyond schools.”
The Met Police announced last week it will cut 1,700 officers and staff to plug a £260m budget shortfall.
Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) went from a jihadist movement once aligned to al Qaeda to forming the official government of Syria.
It was a monumental transformation for them, their country and the wider Middle East.
But potentially too for British people who went to Syria– and who were stripped of their citizenship as a result, on the grounds of national security.
Tauqir Sharif, better known as Tox, went to Syria in 2012 as an aid worker. He was accused of being part of a group affiliated with al Qaeda, which he denies, and the then-home secretary Amber Rudd deprived him of his British citizenship in 2017.
“As of now, I am deprived of my UK citizenship but I’m not a convicted terrorist – and the reason for that is because we refused, we boycotted, the SIAC [Special Immigration Appeals Commission] secret courts, which don’t allow you to see any of the evidence presented against you,” he said.
“And one of the things that I always called for was, look, put me in front of a jury, let’s have an open hearing.”
Image: Tox went to Syria in 2012
HTS is still a proscribed terrorist organisation but the British government has now established relations with it.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to Damascus to meet the jihadist-turned-Syrian interim president – the man who swapped his nom de guerre of al Jolani for Ahmed al Sharaa.
Image: David Lammy shakes hands with Ahmed al Sharaa in Damascus. Pic: X / @DavidLammy
If the UK government takes HTS off the terror list, what does that mean for those who lost their citizenship after being accused of being part of it?
People who joined HTS are only a subset among the scores of people who have had their citizenship revoked – a tool the UK government has been quick to use.
According to a report by the Parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee, the UK “uses deprivation of citizenship orders more than almost any country in the world”.
The peak of that was in 2017, and mainly in relation to Syria – especially in the case of people joining Islamic State, perhaps most famously Shamima Begum.
Image: Shamima Begum was stripped of her British citizenship on national security grounds
And because people cannot be made entirely stateless, and need to have a second nationality, or be potentially eligible for one, there are worries of racism in who the orders apply to.
Countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh offer dual nationality, whereas other nations do not. In 2022, the Institute of Race Relations said “the vast majority of those deprived are Muslim men with South Asian or Middle Eastern/North African heritage”.
Legal grey areas
Sky News submitted Freedom of Information requests to the Home Office asking for a breakdown of second nationalities of those deprived of citizenship, but was refused twice on national security grounds.
The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, told Sky News there are issues around transparency.
“I do think there is a problem when you have people whose relationship with the country that they’re left with is really technical and they may never have realised that they had that citizenship before and may never gone to that country,” he said.
“Me and my predecessors have all said, owing to how frequently this power is used, it should be something that the independent reviewer should have the power to review. I asked, my predecessor asked, we’ve both been told no, so I agree there’s a lack of transparency.”
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“We can’t sort of go through previous cases nitpicking through it, wasting time and money to bring it up to date,” he added.
“We can’t be naive because the intent to go out, the decision to go in itself is a huge decision for them. So it shows commitment when they’re there, they then, if they take an active participation in the organisations that they’ve been accused of joining, again, that involves training and perseverance and dedication to the cause.”
But those born and raised in Britain, who joined the same cause, and lost their citizenship as a result, might reasonably ask why that should remain the case.
Criminals face being banned from pubs, sports grounds and concerts under new government plans to give judges powers to pass tougher community sentences.
The new measures, which would apply to people in England and Wales, “should remind all offenders that, under this government, crime does not pay”, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said.
Offenders’ freedom could also be curtailed with limits on driving, travel bans and restriction zones confining them to specific areas, the government said.
Similar measures could also apply to prisoners let out on licence, while drug testing would be expanded to include all those released, rather than just those with a history of substance misuse.
While judges are currently able to impose limited bans for specific crimes, such as football bans for crimes committed inside a stadium on match day, the new measures would allow for such bans to be handed down for any offence.
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12:16
Inside one of Britain’s most overcrowded prisons
The justice secretary said: “When criminals break society’s rules, they must be punished.
“Those serving their sentences in the community must have their freedom restricted there too.
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“These new punishments should remind all offenders that, under this government, crime does not pay.
“Rightly, the public expect the government to do everything in its power to keep Britain safe, and that’s what we’re doing.”
The proposals are part of the Labour government’s efforts to tackle overcrowding in prisons.
Back in June, it emerged that prisoners were to be transferred to lower security jails in an effort to ease overcrowding, as part of a new measure quietly unveiled by the government.
Sky News reported earlier this month how the prison system was close to collapse on a number of occasions between autumn 2023 and summer 2024, according to an independent review by former chief inspector of prisons, Dame Anne Owers.
The report said there was a systemic problem which has led to recurring prison capacity crises over the last 18 years.
Protesters have gathered across the country as groups demonstrated against asylum seeker housing and were met by anti-racism campaigners.
Demonstrations under the Abolish Asylum System slogan were held in England, Scotland and Wales, including in Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Aberdeen, Mold, Perth, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Horley and Canary Wharf.
Counter-protests were also organised by campaign group Stand Up to Racism.
Image: Police officers scuffle with demonstrators during protests at Castle Park in Bristol. Pic: PA
In Bristol, mounted police separated the two groups in the Castle Park, with officers scuffling with protesters.
Police kept around 200 anti-immigration protesters draped in English flags away from roughly 50 Stand Up to Racism protesters in Horley, Surrey.
Image: People take part in a protest outside the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Horley, Surrey. Pic: PA
One man, wearing a West Ham United football shirt, was held by police as he yelled: “You’re not welcome here, you’re not welcome here, you’re not welcome here” at anti-racism protesters.
Anti-immigration protesters also chanted: “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Robinson” in support of the far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
Image: A confrontation between a protester and a counter-protester outside the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Horley, Surrey. Pic: PA
The anti-racism protesters chanted “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here” and held signs calling for solidarity and to “stop deportations”.
The Stand Up to Racism protesters were shepherded into a smaller area as they continued to chant: “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here”, which was met with “No they’re f****** not” from the other side of the street.
Image: People inside the hotel look at protesters outside the Radisson Hotel in Perth. Pic: PA
In Perth, protesters gathered outside the Radisson Hotel.
The anti-migration protesters held up signs with slogans such as “Perth is full – empty the hotels” and “get them out”.
Image: People take part in a counter-protest outside the Radisson Hotel in Perth. Pic: PA
Stand Up to Racism Scotland said it had achieved “victory” in Perth, with more than 200 gathering to oppose the Abolish Asylum System demonstration.
In Liverpool, a dispersal order was issued to try and contain the protests.
Saturday’s events come amid continued tension around the use of the hotels for asylum seekers.
Regular protests had been held outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which started after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on 10 July.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl and denies the allegations. He is due to stand trial later this month.