Los Angeles School Police Chief Todd Chamberlain resigned his position Wednesday after the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) voted Tuesday night to slash his department's budget by $25 million (35 percent).
The decision was a result of immense pressure from Black Lives Matter protesters and activists to "defund" or "abolish" the police.
The school board failed to reach a decision last week on defunding its police department, which is designed to protect students from gang violence and mass shootings that are prevalent in Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, however, the school voted for major cuts to the department.
The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday approved an immediate 35% cut to its school police force, a reduction of $25 million, in response to weeks of protests by student activists and community groups who had called for the elimination of the department.
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The board action also calls for officers to give up their uniforms and patrol off campus, and will lead to the layoffs of 65 officers in the 471-employee department. The money saved from the cuts is to be allocated to fund staff to specifically serve the needs of Black students and a task force that will study ways to reimagine the issue of student and campus safety.
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High schools typically have one assigned, armed officer, middle schools have an unarmed security aide and elementary schools rely on roving patrols for safety issues. Groups of officers typically arrive quickly at a school when a serious security call is sent out.
Officers also would not be able to provide security for adult and night school, he added. After-hours security would be virtually eliminated, making it difficult to deal with burglaries, vandalism and trespassing. A detective who focused on sex-trafficking prevention would surrender those duties.
Perhaps the most compelling loss, Chamberlain said, is that the department’s intervention and prevention efforts would have to end.
