(iWitness News) – Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves says that the proposed presence of police in schools to deal with school violence is the wrong approach.
“I am saying that this is a matter on which there has to be a thorough, ongoing national conversation: I am not supporting taking police and putting them by the schools,” Gonsalves said on Wednesday on “Morning Comrade” on Star Radio.
“We must have a national consultation on this; we would create more problems with this heavy-handed approach,” he added.
Recently, lawyer and social commentator Jomo Thomas also publicly criticised the measure outlined by National Security Minister St. Clair Leacock to place police officers in schools across St. Vincent and the Grenadines to curb violence.
Leacock announced that Assistant Commissioners of Police Benzil Samuel and Hezron Ballantyne would be in charge of school security, saying that school violence was a matter of concern for the government.
