Prompt action shows good links between police and schools

Prompt action from Bexhill High School and Hillcrest School in Hastings led to averting of what could potentially have been a very nasty incident in Bexhill town centre - a face-off between the schools’ respective students.

The ball for the potential brawl started rolling on social networking site Facebook.

Whether the fight really was planned or was simply the result of online bragging which snowballed out of control may never be known.

Nonetheless the schools in question alerted the police - who were ready for any trouble, even speaking to youngsters who jumped off a train from Hastings at Bexhill station.

Bexhill High School’s principal, Mike Conn, makes a very valid point that the internet and social networking sites can have negative connotations as well as positive.

It’s easy to dismiss sites such as Facebook as superficial or a bit of a laugh.

Yet last week’s defused incident shows just how tools intended for the sharing of information can end up encouraging what Mr Conn says “amounts to incitement” - a mob mentality.