Victim empowerment officers tackle bullying at schools
“We do school talks on bullying and school searches once a month” - Constable Phumi Kraai.
Communications officer, Constable Phumi Kraai from Langlaagte Police station speaks to us about bullying in schools and how their victim empowerment office assists.
“When it comes to bullying it depends on the ages, the matter needs to be sorted out at the schools between parents, the victim and the bully as well as management of the school, if that fails then the matter can be brought to us because we have the victim empowerment centre here where we have social workers who can help find common ground,” explained Kraai.
The Constable added that they do not arrest underage bullies but instead they have interventions where the bully, the bully’s parents, the victim and the victim’s parents will get together with the social worker so that they can find common ground and deal with the issue.
“When we speak about high school learners who are eighteen years old and over and we find that they’re bullying other pupils that then assault and we then can arrest the perpetrator. I would recommend for parents who are concerned about their children to come to see us at the victim empowerment centre at the police station, we find the best way to assist with the situation.
“We also have school talks on bullying and then we find bullying cases at the school and we assist the learners, after our interventions, we find that the learner who was the bully changes.
“The social workers call both parents in of the learners and then we have the sessions with them all. We do school talks on bullying and school searches once a month, we need to do at least three a month,” concluded Kraai.
If you are not in the Langlaagte precinct then you can go to your local police station and ask for the victim empowerment office to find assistance.
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