IT is a depressing sign of the times that a special conference needed to be held about making schools more secure.

Last Saturday's event at the Last Drop Hotel organised by Greater Manchester Police in partnership with Bolton Safer cities revealed the scale of destruction in many schools across the borough.

Police turned out to 3,457 school incidents and the worst hit secondary school faced £16,000 bills to fix vandal damage.

We hope the delegates at the conference benefited from the practical advice from police, fire and security exports about making their schools thief and vandal proof.

And, if criminals who target schools are caught and prosecuted, we trust the courts will impose tough sentences.

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