Now teenagers can text crime reports

Pupils will soon be able to report bullies, muggers and drug dealers by text message in a bid to stem classroom crime.

Education chiefs in east London plan to tap in on the teenage craze for text messaging with a confidential hotline allowing children to report incidents to a central database.

The scheme in Newham follows an explosion in the number of teenage mobile-phone robberies in the borough last year. The Labour-run council, which will offer the service in primary and secondary schools, insists the hotline is not a substitute for contacting the police or a teacher.

But it believes that some pupils may feel more willing to report crime by text message than face-to-face. The council's youth offending team, who will monitor the messages, will also build up a broader picture of problem pupils and crime hotspots.

A Newham spokeswoman said: "If any pupil sees a serious crime taking place we would expect them to report it to the police straightaway. However, some children might not want to get involved, for whom this might provide an alternative.

"But what it may really help with is lower-level problems like bullying or vandalism, where pupils might not think telling a teacher was worth it."

Although the hotline will be confidential, it will record the numbers of phones that message it: "It might allow us to build up some intelligence as to where problems tend to be."

She added that if a pupil was named repeatedly in connection with activities such as drug dealing, the information could then be passed to police.

Street crime in Newham has risen by more than 300 per cent in the last three years. The rise has been fuelled mainly by mobile-phone muggings, especially common among teenagers as both perpetrators and victims.

The scheme is part of a broader street-safety drive. A poster campaign will also warn people to keep their mobile phones out of sight and get them security-stamped.