A Los Angeles teachers union is calling for the elimination of the police force that protects school campuses following the death of George Floyd.
Leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles, a union representing L.A. Unified School District teachers and staff, is pushing to eliminate the force of about 400 police officers standing guard at local schools that were originally dispatched to prevent school shootings, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“We have to dismantle white supremacy. We must … defund the police and bring in the mental health services that our students need,” Cecily Myart-Cruz, the incoming president of UTLA, said of the move.
According to current UTLA president, Alex Caputo-Pearl, the union’s board of directors voted 35-2 last week to “start a process” that would lead the board to “take money out of the school police department and put it directly into mental health support, counselors, academic counselors.”
The president of the school police union, Gil Gamez, criticized the push to eliminate armed protection from schools by arguing, “School police are necessary to keep the peace at schools and are trained in deescalate situations better than other officers who would be called to campuses in their absence.”
“We are trained different. We have a vested interest … we had restorative justice training, our police officers come from the communities they serve,” Gamez continued, while adding that many officers are L.A. Unified graduates who work hand in hand with school counselors. “To see us be demonized and ostracized, I don’t get it.”
The union’s decision comes as cities across the country are facing pressure from Democratic politicians and activists, including from Black Lives Matter, to disband and defund police departments as a way to stem police brutality in the aftermath of the death of Floyd.
In Los Angeles, the city council has already proposed legislation to slash the police department’s budget by as much as $150 million.
“Following the gruesome murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, we are also in the midst of a social and racial justice crisis of epic proportions, where the good people of Los Angeles, as well as the nation, are asking their leaders to reexamine our priorities and to commit to taking a giant leap forward in recognizing and ending racism against black Americans,” City Council President Nury Martinez said.
