75 aggravated assaults reported on LAUSD campuses last year
With fights at Los Angeles Unified School District campuses making the rounds on social media, parents have grown concerned about their children's safety especially after school police suffered drastic staffing cuts.
"I have to worry eight hours a day," said LAUSD mother Brittany Jackson. "Is my child going to make it back safe from school?"
The drastic cuts have profoundly affected the Los Angeles School Police Department's personnel. In two years, the number of officers in the department has dropped nearly 20% from 374 to 300 sworn employees according to one estimate from LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. However, according to Interim Chief Steven Zipperman, the depart has lost over 140 officers.
"We're about 230 strong," said Zipperman. "I think you have to understand we have a different service model."
The new service model will no longer station officers inside of the schools. Instead, they will only come to campuses when they are called. However, the union that represents the officers says this will put more children in danger.
"This is a result of not having officers on campus, we used to have school police officers assigned here," LA school police union president Gil Gomez said. "A police car in front of the school to show that there was an officer on campus, or two, to make sure that kids were safe."
In 2021, there were 332 batteries, 75 aggravated assaults and 12 arsons on LAUSD campuses. These incidents include some crimes involving weapons such as the shooting of a 16-year-old outside of Grant High School last year.
According to sources, Los Angeles School police confiscated at least 5 guns and 32 knives in just the first few weeks of class last year.
Carvalho said that Zipperman is reviewing the officer situation to see how well the new service model is working.
