The T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) is re­port­ing ear­ly signs of suc­cess from its new School-Ori­ent­ed Polic­ing Unit (SOPU), with of­fi­cers em­bed­ded in 50 high-risk schools.

Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Ju­nior Ben­jamin told Guardian Me­dia that since the ini­tia­tive was launched last month in part­ner­ship with the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion, fights have de­creased and re­spons­es to vi­o­lence have be­come faster. In ad­di­tion to sta­tioned of­fi­cers, ten sec­ondary and ten pri­ma­ry schools are be­ing mon­i­tored through rou­tine pa­trols.

Al­ready this term, po­lice have re­spond­ed to sev­er­al trou­bling in­ci­dents. On Sep­tem­ber 17, a 13-year-old Form One stu­dent at Coryal Sec­ondary was charged with pos­ses­sion of mar­i­jua­na for the pur­pose of traf­fick­ing. Ear­li­er, a fight be­tween a fe­male stu­dent and a teacher was filmed and wide­ly shared on­line, prompt­ing a Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion in­ves­ti­ga­tion.