POLICE will be teaching English in classrooms as early as next year, in a bid to curb youth crime and break the hold of triad gangs on schools. The move is expected to follow a final report jointly produced by police and academics on the problem of school triads in Kwai Ching. The report is due for release by the end of the year. Kwai Ching District Commander Chief Superintendent Peter Thompson said co-operation between police and schools in collecting 7,500 survey responses from students had the effect of boosting reports of crime coming from schools, and had inspired one teacher to use marked dollar bills and make a citizen's arrest of a youth who demanded protection money. Superintendent Thompson said that the English-teaching exercise would further build up trust and co-operation between police and schools. ''Most schools would welcome help from English-language speakers, and these lessons would be conducted more informally than the usual uniformed talks,'' he said. Lessons will begin at Lok Sin Tong Ku Chiu Man Secondary School, and, if successful, will be extended throughout the district. School principal Dr Alex Fung Chi-wah, who is also director of the survey group, has called for the survey to be extended territory-wide to provide data on youth in each district which could help parents and social workers counteract triad influences. The officer-in-charge of Kowloon City District Anti-triad Squad, Inspector Lee Sai-wing, backed the call for territory-wide research because it could prove that many triads were imposters. Reports of crime in secondary schools in his district had risen slightly to 309 in the last school year, compared to 281 the year before, but 80 per cent of the 34 alleged triad cases had proved unsubstantiated. ''Most of the students only claim to be triads because they think they can get money this way,'' he said. The imposters were often expelled students or school-leavers who were unemployed and hung around outside the school gates. A survey could help break the cycle of the fear, and encourage people to report offenders, Inspector Lee said. Dr Fung called for more extracurricular activities because the Kwai Ching research indicates that boredom is a key factor encouraging students to spend their time in amusement centres, public parks and karaoke bars where they were likely to come into contact with triads. Fight Crime Committee member Justein Wong Chun, supported this, and called for a special youth policy and longer school hours to keep students occupied. He said youths accounted for 35 per cent of the 42,000 arrests made last year, while the number of young drug abusers and reports of sex-for-sale in karaoke bars both continue to rise. In response to this, he suggested that the Governor should create a new policy on youth in co-operation with schools and parents, and overhaul the outdated education system.