An unprecedented glimpse into policing in California schools
EdSource filed public records requests with hundreds of California public schools to obtain nearly 46,000 incident logs documenting calls to police from and about 852 schools.
Here's what we found and the data we gathered.
Every school day police respond to thousands of calls from schools across California. Along with the patrols and security checks are thousands of serious incidents, some of them violent. It’s a view of what goes on inside schools that the public rarely gets to hear about because of the state’s strict laws related to disclosing information related to juveniles.
This unprecedented look at school policing comes at a time when some school communities are debating how much and what kind of policing they want and need.
Of nearly 46,000 incidents reported by 164 law enforcement agencies in 57 of 58 counties:
Three out of 10 were serious - reasonably required a police presence.
Of the serious, more than a third involved violence - anything involving a violent act.
Three out of 10 police calls involved serious incidents - i.e. reports of fights, assault and battery, sexual incidents, threats, thefts, weapons, drugs, disturbances, mental health crises, overdoses.
More than one percent of police calls - total of 445 - involved the possession of, or use of, weapons – guns, knives, and in two instances, a spear and a bow and arrow.
More than a third of the serious incidents involved violence - i.e. fighting, assault and battery, sex crimes, self-harm, animal attacks and anything involving weapons.
Three out of 10 of all calls were noted by police as patrol with no details.
More than 1 percent of calls - total of 342 - reported sex crimes: 174 incidents of rape, sexual assault, sexual battery or child molestation. Most of the rest involved smartphones to send or threaten to send compromising photos of students, some taken in school bathrooms.
Middle schools had higher rates of calls on serious incidents than high schools i.e. weapons, violence, and sexual misconduct with 6.6 per 100 students compared to 5.8 per 100 students.
Our reporting
When California schools summon police
JUNE 6, 2024
EdSource investigation describes the vast police presence in K-12 schools across California.
THOMAS PEELE AND DANIEL J. WILLIS
Going police-free is tough and ongoing, Oakland schools find
JUNE 7, 2024
Oakland Unified remains committed to the idea that disbanding its own police force can work. Staff are trained to call the cops as a last resort.
MONICA VELEZ
San Bernardino County: Growing hot spot for school-run police
JUNE 10, 2024
Why open a new district-run police department? “We need to take our safety to another level."
THOMAS PEELE, DANIEL J. WILLIS, MALLIKA SESHADRI, AND EMMA GALLEGOS
Safety concerns on the rise in LAUSD; Carvalho looks to police
JUNE 10, 2024
The Los Angeles Unified School District has reinstated police to two of its campuses — continuing an ebb and flow in its approach to law enforcement.
MALLIKA SESHADRI
PODCAST
Why California schools call the police
JUNE 14, 2024
ZAIDEE STAVELY, WITH ROSE CIOTTA, THOMAS PEELE AND DANIEL J. WILLIS