It did not take the children long to get used to the unfamiliar sight of security guards taking up position outside their schools in one of Berlin's problem areas.

"Have you got a pistol with you," little Hussein asked the two men wearing dark blue uniforms who stood guard outside his school in the immigrant-dominated suburb of Neukoelln.

The older of the two shook his head, eliciting a smile from the youngster as he quickly walked passed the men to join his friends waiting for him inside the schoolyard.

Since December, 20 "school sheriffs" employed by a private security firm have been keeping an eye on children at 13 Neukoelln schools in the first project of its kind in Germany.

Their task is to stop non-pupils from entering the school grounds and causing trouble, following 56 violent incidents in the suburb's 76 schools during the school year that ended in July.

Quiet

The first day went very well, according to Klaus Huebner, who manages the project on behalf of the Bielefeld-based security firm Germania.

"Things were quiet, as we expected they would be," he said. "There was one harmless incident when we had to turn back a boy who tried to get into a school where he wasn't a pupil."

The guards are on duty from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hueber said that in some schools they are required to check the pupils' identity cards or bags, but in others they rely only on facial recognition.

"We already had the backing of parents and teachers," he said. "But the pupils feel safer now that the guards are there."

Aggressive incidents

The project is the brainchild of Neukoelln Mayor Heinz Buschkowsky, who took the decision to hire a private security firm after a particularly violent incident earlier this year.

A 54-year-old male teacher at the Roentgen Secondary School was beaten up by a 17-year-old Serbian-born youth who surfaced at the school, demanding to see his ex-girlfriend.

Ordered to leave the premises, the youngster became aggressive, punching and kicking the teacher to the ground in the schoolyard, before being overpowered by pupils.

"This step is unavoidable," said the mayor. "Without this we can no longer guarantee parents the protection and safety of their children."

 1 2 Next >