ABSTRACT
One of the ways in which the police made contact with the young in the days before ‘lollipop’ men and panda cars, was by the attention given to school crossings and road safety. For many years the police have visited schools giving talks, lectures and film shows on the subject of road safety. This has always been a ‘safe’, non-controversial role which has been readily accepted by most senior officers; the schools have always accepted it as important. The Sussex police have been pioneers in police-school liaison; in 1966 the first police school liaison officers were appointed, initially part-time, having operational responsibilities as well. In 1969 the Sussex police reappraised their pilot scheme and it was decided that full-time school liaison officers were needed. Few police forces are prepared to give the same sort of commitment to school liaison, in terms of manpower, as the Sussex force.
