Today, at the Hotel "Courtyard Marriot", the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the Ministry of Education and Science discussed the draft amendments to the Law of Georgia on "General Education" regarding the Reform of Resource Officers. The meeting was led by Mrs. Natia Mezvrishvili, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Mrs. Lia Gigauri, the Deputy Minister of Education and Science.
The meeting was also attended by the representatives of different state agencies, parliament, non-governmental and international organizations. The draft law on "General Education" will be submitted to the Parliament of Georgia in the nearest future.
According to the draft law:
• To ensure safety in schools, the video surveillance cameras on the internal and external perimeter of schools shall be mandatory. Video cameras shall cover the entire area of the school and the outer perimeter. The equipping process will be performed gradually and involve all schools of Georgia. The coverage area shall be checked in schools, where the cameras already exist and if necessary, the number of video cameras will be increased. Video cameras shall be administered by the Resource Officers Service;
• Coordination between the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be further increased. In particular, for the purpose of identification of risk-groups in schools at an early stage, as well as prevention of crime outside the school, the exchange of information regarding the offences shall be practiced;
• In order to neutralize the conflict between schoolchildren and prevent continuation of the conflict outside the school, a resource officer shall be entitled to retain a minor and notify the parents, while in case of an offense he/she shall immediately report to the Police;
• The Resource Officers Service gains more independence and higher legitimacy; the Resource Officer shall be appointed to the position not by the school director, but by the head of the Resource Officers Service, which will increase the level of independence of the resource officer. The Head of the Resource Officers Service, in its turn, shall be appointed by the Minister of Education;
• While the applicable legislation allows the appointment of an individual with a general education to the position of a resource officer, the amendments to the legislation shall admit to the mentioned position only those with higher education;
• The upper age limit for employment shall be 21 years;
The rules of professional training will be changed and along with theoretical training it will cover practical components as well. Duration of training course will be also increased.
The course will be conducted by competent experts, which will provide high level of training and professional improvement of the resource officers. The practicing officers will be retrained in stages according to the new course.
The draft law aims to increase the efficiency of the Resource Officers Service and prevent crime among adolescents, both in the school and on the adjacent territories in close coordination between the agencies.
In addition to the legislative amendments, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science have already made particular steps, namely:
• Cooperation between Resource Officers and Patrol Police has been strengthened; Patrolling at the school perimeter has been intensified;
• Psychological assistance hot line has been activated;
• Psychological services has been increased in schools. This process will gradually cover the entire country and eventually all schools will have a qualified psychologist;
• As a result of cooperation with psychologists, the Ministry of Education has developed specific recommendations for parents, pupils and teachers;
• Recommendation fliers will be gradually distributed in all schools, this will promote raising the awareness of violence and bullying, crime prevention and assistance to victims of violence.
