The draft law on enhancing the security at schools initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been sent to the Parliament for consideration. The draft law on amendments to the Law of Georgia on “General Education” initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs was reviewed at the Government session.
Reforms in the direction of increasing security norms in schools are one of the main priorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Legislative amendments were developed jointly by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry Education. According to the draft law, the Office of Resource Officers acquires additional functions and obligations that will enhance the efficiency of its activities and will be oriented on prevention of juvenile offenses. According to the legislative amendments, new requirements for a candidate of a resource officer have been defined. Instead of full general education, a resource officer shall be required to have professional or higher education. Consequently, the minimal age for a resource officer shall be 21 years.
The Minister of Education and the Minister of Internal Affairs will jointly approve the training courses for a resource officer. Also, the courses, along with other components of the training, shall include physical training and practical directions.
Trainings and retraining of resource officers shall be conducted by the Police Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In order to neutralize the conflict between schoolchildren and prevent the conflict out of the school, a resource officer shall have the obligation to delay a minor and in case of an office - immediately notify his/her parent and police. The rule of appointing the resource officer will be also changed: they shall be appointed to and dismissed from their positions by the Head of the LEPL Office of Resource Officer instead of a director of the school.
Along with the legislative amendments the rule for coordination and information exchange between the agencies have been developed; the mentioned rule ensures better identification of pupils' risk groups. Installation of external and internal perimeter video surveillance cameras in the school building shall be mandatory. The video surveillance camera shall be administered by a resource officer (if any) in the school. It is noteworthy that till today the video surveillance cameras were mandatory only in private schools. As for the public schools with the video surveillance cameras, it shall be necessary to assess their appropriateness and refurbishment. According to the schedule determined by the Ministry of Education, video cameras will be installed gradually in public schools and the process of installation will be completed by the end of 2019.
