WHILE there is some controversy over stationing police officers at schools for the new academic year, parents at one school in Port of Spain were disappointed when cops were marked absent during roll call on September 8.

South East Secondary Port of Spain, which has had its challenges with gang violence around the school and some incidents of school violence, started the new term with no officers on the compound.

Newsday visited the school on September 8, at the start of the new term, and was told a police patrol had passed a short while earlier. However, despite a brief stop and inspection, officers left the school.