Overview

• Teachers will receive de-escalation training to identify violence, communicate calmly under stress, and apply conflict-avoidance techniques.
• A police officer and a teacher will co-teach a unit in seventh-grade classes that includes roleplays on handling conflict, reflecting criminal responsibility from age 14.
• Police presence on schoolyards will be offered only where schools agree, with officers engaging students to build trust and support de-escalation.
• The program will run for one year before an evaluation determines broader rollout or adjustments.
• The initiative follows a stabbing that severely injured a teacher at an Essen vocational college; a 17-year-old suspect was arrested and federal prosecutors are investigating reported ideological motives.