Police Community Support Officers in Schools: Findings from an Evaluation of a Pilot Training Programme for School Liaison Officers.

This article reports the findings of an evaluation of a pilot training programme for Police Community Support Officers working as School Liaison Officers (SLOs) in secondary schools in two urban authorities in the West Midlands, England. Commissioned by West Midlands Police in response to their concerns about the inadequate preparation of SLOs, a training programme was co-designed by an officer from the Local Policing Unit and the School of Education at Newman University. Using focus group discussions with serving SLOs, individual interviews with key stakeholders and a short questionnaire, the evaluation reveals the complexities of community policing in contemporary urban school contexts and the challenges of professionalising the work of the SLO as a core issue in neighbourhood policing. The possibilities afforded through the Teaching and Learning Academy national professional recognition and the pivotal role of effective school-based mentorship emerge as particularly positive features of the evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]