Months after deciding to remove police on school campuses, the Pomona Unified School District has decided to renew a contract with city police officers.
Four months ago, following pressure from community activists, the board of education decided to defund the district’s police program and focus on de-escalation tactics over policing.
While the officer’s were removed from the district’s budget, in an interview with Spectrum News Superintendent Richard Martinez did say that school officials would “consider bringing community student resource officers back if needed.”
So, it’s not unusual that two weeks after a 12-year-old boy was injured in an Oct. 15 shooting near Pomona High School, that the school board voted unanimously to hire two resource officers to cover the district, according to ABC 7 News.
“An incident such as this drives us, as leaders, to examine our practices and our protocols,” the L.A. Times quoted Martinez as saying during an Oct. 20 meeting after the shooting. “In caring for students and staff in regards to mental health, conflict mediation, emergency procedures, communication facilities and safety.”
For those who fought to end contracts with police on campus, the decision to reinstate police is devastating - and brings back fears of altercations between officers and students on campus.
All officers recently completed a two-day use of force de-escalation class, Pomona Police Spokeswoman Aly Mejia told the L.A. Times, adding that the officers will also attend implicit bias training and be trained in diversity and de-escalation.
At this point, nothing is set in stone. Before the district can begin the process of returning officers to campus, the Pomona City Council will have to sign off. The next meeting is on Nov. 15.
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