LA officials taking new look at school safety

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- As the school shooting in Florida reignited national debates over gun violence and school safety, Los Angeles officials are taking a new look at how to keep students safe.

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer convened the first in a series of community meetings on that subject in Hollywood.

Members of the school board and law enforcement were present as well to help get input on how to make Los Angeles schools safer.

One suggestion was smaller class sizes. Another was having more well-trained mental health counselors on campus.

School police chief Steve Zipperman said his officers try to play a positive role on campus, in addition to enforcement.

"Every day they're engaged in conversation with our students," Zipperman said. "The relationships our campus officers build with students and staff is tremendous."

But some students say they have a different perception of school police, in light of national controversies involving police shootings.

"There's police shootings all the time and then people wearing the same uniforms are in my school and all of a sudden they're like oh you can trust these people," said Alexis Keys, a student at Hamilton High School. "When everything I've seen says I cannot."