The Community Rights Campaign in collaboration with the Los Angeles Chapter of Dignity in Schools Campaign has released a policy paper: Police in LAUSD Schools: The Need for Accountability and Alternatives [1]. This paper is the first of two policy papers designed to strengthen accountability and transparency in the Los Angeles School Police Department (LASPD) for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) students and families.

Download the Report Now: [2] [3]

New LASPD Chief is opening for civil and educational rights

With 340 sworn officers and 147 School Safety Officers, the LASPD is the largest school police department in the country. Given that 91% of LAUSD students are students of color – it is inevitable that the brunt of any potential misconduct or abuse by LASPD officers are shouldered by students of color. As the LAUSD Board prepares to select a new Chief of Police for LASPD, the Community Rights Campaign and Dignity in Schools urge the LAUSD Board to create new mechanisms and policies that hold the LASPD accountable to the civil/human rights of all LAUSD students—most specifically by creating new LAUSD policies to restrict the role and use of force of LASPD inside our schools and an independent civilian review board to bring greater accountability. Read Police in LAUSD Schools [4]

Beyond the Headlines of Police Misconduct

LA Weekly’s Fall 2009 exposé revealed more than just the gross misconduct of a few “bad” LASPD officers. It shed light on the much more pervasive problem. Through our own work, the Community Rights Campaign has surveyed over 1,500 students in schools throughout the city. Students are routinely reporting accounts of serious police misconduct—excessive force, verbal abuse, sexual harassment, indiscriminate use of mace and pepper spray, racial profiling, handcuffs used on students’ whose “crime” was being late, frequent searches. Police in LAUSD Schools [5] documents in detail many incidents of alleged school police abuse and misconduct.

Sounding the national call to restrict school police and “zero tolerance”

Nationally respected educational organizations are now sounding the call for strict restrictions on the use of force by police and accountability for their disciplinary role within schools. From Denver, Colorado, to Birmingham, Alabama, to Clayton County, Georgia, there is also a growing trend across the country to adopt alternative discipline policies. These cities and counties are introducing policies aimed at reducing the number of students arrested, referred to court, and pushed out of school through suspensions and expulsions. We urge the Los Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles School Police Department to work with Community Rights Campaign and Dignity in Schools Campaign to implement the recommendations made in our Police in LAUSD Schools [6] report. We believe these reforms can foster an environment that respects the civil and human rights of students, encourages greater community transparency and participation and finds common ground in addressing the root causes of push-out/drop-out.