New Policies Will Limit Los Angeles School Police Arrest Powers

By Julianne Hing Aug 20, 2014

Los Angeles Unified School District is attempting to shift the tide on school push out with updated school policies announced Tuesday and effective immediately. 

Los Angeles Unified School Police will no longer arrest or cite students for offenses like alcohol or pot possession, AP reported. Instead, students will be referred to administrators and counselors. The move is an effort to keep students in school and away from the juvenile justice system.

"We want students to be with us, not pushed out and sent to jail," Los Angeles Superintendent John Deasy told AP. "We have been disproportionately incarcerating, disproportionately citing, and disproportionately suspending youth of color, and it’s wrong."

In recent years, the school-to-prison pipeline has become a national conversation, and LAUSD has picked up on the conversation. Last year, LAUSD became the first district in the nation to stop suspending students for "defiance," a catchall offense referring to disrespectful behavior, which was disproportionately applied to African American students.