Parents in hardline republican areas of Derry are up in arms that the PSNI have been invited into Catholic schools to try to recruit their kids.
Furious mums and dads have vowed they'll take their children out of class when the cops call. The PSNI visits are part of a determined drive to smash dissident republicanism by engaging in a battle for hearts and minds in the classroom.
Mother of two Catherine Rush, from the staunchly republican Bogside, said: "My kids wont be there when the PSNI arrive in school putting on a nice face.
"They weren't so nice to my children when an armed response unit in boiler suits jumped out on them on the street with machine guns, Tasers, and CS gas. My wee girl Toni wet herself. She's eight-years-old and still has nightmares about it."
The PSNI is deliberately targeting schools in Derry, Tyrone, Fermanagh and north and west Belfast where support for dissidents is growing.
The move is strongly supported by the Catholic bishops and the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools who want to overcome traditional hostility to the police in republican areas. It's hoped the initiative will lead to more young Catholics joining the PSNI.
Catherine Rush (34) said: "I'd have no problem if we had a normal, impartial police service but we don't. My ex-partner is a republican and it's par for the course him being stopped and searched. Adults can take care of themselves.
"But the PSNI are aggressive to my children when they're with their daddy and that's not fair. I'm not politically involved – the only organisation I'm in is the credit union – and there's no republican paraphernalia in my house.
"I didn't bring my kids up to hate the PSNI but the police's own behaviour has caused my son to despise them and my wee girl is heart scared of them."
Mother-of-three Kellie Ramsey withdrew her 11-year-old son Oran from school on Thursday when police visited. "The cops regularly shout 'scumbags' at my kids on the street. I've lodged several complaints with the police ombudsman. My two boys were pulled out of a car and searched aggressively. They'd done nothing wrong," Ramsey claimed.
"The police raided our home when my daughter Caragh was three. She was just out of hospital after surgery. She went into hysterics and had to be carried out of the house. No way are the police coming near my kids in school."
Ex-Sinn Féin activist, Ciaran Boyle, said he'll take his five-year-old son Adam out of school when the PSNI visit.
"Adam was removed from a car in the Creggan by heavily armed police pointing their guns at me. He was shaking with fear, holding onto my leg. He's now terrified of the police. Instead of being a sanctuary for him, school will become somewhere he's afraid to go if the cops are there."
Boyle claimed the PSNI have a duty to warn youngsters of the risks of joining the force: "The unfortunate reality is that in Derry when someone joins the police they can never live in a nationalist part of the city again and they're in danger of being shot or blown up.
"My son's uncle is a policeman and he can't live in the Bogside anymore. My own car was vandalised and abuse was hurled at me because I was related to him – and I'm a republican."
Boyle, now a member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, claimed schools should be politically neutral: "I'd be equally against the Sovereignty Movement launching a recruitment drive among primary school pupils as I'm against the PSNI doing it. Classrooms are for learning, nothing else."
