POLICE are called to incidents in schools about 100,000 times a year, figures disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act suggest.

The figure means police are visiting each of England’s 21,500 schools on an average of four occasions every year to investigate suspected offences.

The most common crimes reported are violent or rowdy behaviour, followed by theft and vandalism. Some forces also reported muggings and sexual offences.

In their Easter conferences, teaching unions repeatedly raised concerns about fighting and rowdiness.

John Bangs, assistant secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “Police are called to schools for two basic reasons. The first is disorder at the gates, such as gangs waiting for a kid to come out or parents fighting.

“Intrusion into schools is another major cause of violence. That is often why the head phones the police.”

Peter Crook, former head of the Harris academy in Peckham, south London, recently described a confrontation with an aggressive parent as “a standoff like you get in a football field, his face pressed to mine”.

Ministers are preparing to announce guidance this summer to ensure every school is linked to a named police officer, who may be based at the school if it is a large comprehensive.

Thirteen of the 39 English police forces responded to the application for data on the number of occasions on which they were called to reports of offences at schools from the start of 2007 to this year.

Officers in these areas were called out 104,781 times. Based on the proportion of the population covered, this equates to more than 260,000 incidents across the country.

In Cheshire, one comprehensive has called out the police 44 times since the start of 2007.

In Humberside, there have been 26 cases of knife possession at or near a school. There have also been 32 sexual offences against children under 13 in the county, including a rape.

Criminal classes

- Figures from 13 forces show police have been called to incidents in schools 104,781 times since 2007, equivalent to more than 260,000 call-outs across the whole of England

- There were 9,477 call-outs in the Metropolitan police area in 2007, falling to 8,191 last year

- In Cheshire, the police have been called to one comprehensive 44 times in the past two years

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