Recently there has been an increase in violence in South African schools. However, literature indicates that this is not only unique to South African schools, but it is a universal problem. Smith and Sandhu (2004) contend that over the past decade, society has witnessed an outbreak of school violence, both in the United States and in other countries. They further assert that this has altered the perception of safety previously thought to exist on school campuses. argument for or against a visible presence of the police in schools as one measure of curbing the scourge of violence.