As violence at LAUSD skyrockets, parents push to bring back school police officers on campus

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A surge in on-campus violence at Los Angeles Unified School District schools is prompting a group of parents to demand that school police officers be stationed back on campuses.

In the 2018-2019 school year, LAUSD reported 2,315 incidents of fighting or physical aggression. That number nearly doubled in the 2022-2023 school year to 4,569.

Many parents are now blaming the rise in violence on the lack of school police officers on campus.

Following the death of George Floyd in May 2020 and the subsequent protests, the LAUSD school board voted to slash the school police budget by 35% and no longer station police officers on middle school and high school campuses.

Gil Gamez, the president of the Los Angeles School Police Association, said the force is now nearly half of what it was before the cuts, and the remaining officers are ordered to drive around the areas near schools.

"Our response times sometimes takes 15 to 20 minutes," he said. "It's not the 2 to 3 minute response time you'd get if an officer were actually on campus.

"Crime went up 200% on campus, fentanyl, fentanyl deaths on campus, students stabbed on campus, not just fighting, multiple gang fights on campus," he added.

Maria Luisa Palma, a member of the LAUSD advisory committee who has worked with other parents to create an online petition, is demanding the school board re-fund the school police force.

"Bring back those positions so that we can have officers stationed on each campus again," she said.

The LAUSD school board is working on a new community-based safety plan, but there is no word of plans to station police officers on campuses again.