Jamaican Researcher

Police Searches as a Disciplinary Tactic in Inner-City Schools in Jamaica

School Search

School searches by teachers and students, in positions of leadership, have always been commonplace and accepted within the Jamaican school system. Searches are seen as critical tools for maintaining safety, discipline and respect for school rules.

I have had the opportunity of being in the position of student, student leader, and school teacher, and as such, I have had the experience of being searched, and executing searches. Even though I have been in both planes, I must admit, I do not like the act of searching. I have always found it dehumanizing and a demonstration of a lack of confidence in students and parents as signatories to the school rules.

In the 2003 to 04 academic year, I taught History and Social Studies to upper secondary school students at a local high school in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Over that year, I was exposed to ‘new’ strategies in the ‘school search system’–the use of police officers to augment or execute student searches. It may have been the fact that this learning institution was classified as an inner-city school, but nevertheless I found it pretty extreme to have uniformed members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (with guns) interrupt my Social Studies class, comprised of primarily male students,  to execute a spot check. No contraband was found, but the experience demonstrated a lack of confidence by school leaders in managing discipline and instilling the right values and attitudes in our youth.

The invitation of police officers to search students who were not accused of a crime, despite the presence of a paid security company at the school on a daily basis, goes beyond a mere desire to spot check these children, but demonstrates a will to intimidate them into acceptable behavior. Many Jamaicans seem to believe that fear and punishment are useful tools in behavior modification, but all I found happening amongst my male students–who were overly targeted for searches by paid security and police officers, as well as school personnel–were increasing rebelliousness (overt and covert), fear of and anger towards the police, and distrust of persons in positions of leadership.

Our schools, as key socializing agencies, should seek to motivate positive values and attitudes amongst youth by adopting the Servant-Leadership model, which seeks to put people at the center of leadership by emphasizing such values as: listening, empathizing, healing, increasing awareness, persuading, conceptualizing, providing foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and a desire to build communities (Spears & Lawrence: 2004).  Leadership within the Jamaican society and our schools is too focused on producing acceptable results, at the expense of integrating peoples’ experiences and needs into a customized kind of leadership model that that is mindful of the social environment. As leaders, we must reflect the attitudes and values that we believe are appropriate, if we desire our children to model and mirror them. By practicing Servant-Leadership we will inspire a new generation of Servant-Leaders, who will transform our society positively.

Let’s put force, intimidation, and punishment aside and be mindful that our children live what they learn. Let us teach them the way to show love, trust and respect for others.