The School Board of Oakland, California voted unanimously to eliminate their entire K-12 School Police Force. Oakland Unified School District voted just one day after a failed attempt in Los Angeles to pass the same measure. Oakland’s specific measure is called “George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate Oakland Schools Police Department.”
The $2.5 million dollars spent annually on 50 unarmed security officers and 10 uniformed full-time police officers will be diverted into other programs. It’s not yet known yet when, or if, Oakland will replace the school police force.
This move obviously comes as a result of Black Lives Matter protests and rallies across the nation. A common demand in all of the so-called “protests” is a desire for anarchy and lawlessness. Abolishing police is a sure-fire way to achieve that goal. However, as is the case in most BLM-style “protests”, there doesn’t appear to be much thought as to what happens next.
Protester Screech Rules The Day
Speakers who were protesting outside of Oakland’s school board expressed the desire to make “black and brown” kids (especially boys for some reason) to feel safe. They propose funding more counselors and social workers to help kids get through school life.
California School Superintendent Tony Thurman spoke out against the measures in Oakland. He pointed out the obvious fact that when you vote to eliminate security in schools, the need will still persist. Therefore, everyone will be right back to the drawing board when that need is unavoidable. The same policing model will return.
Point Out The Obvious
The subject of race is the trillion-pound elephant in the room. Assumptions are made about police forces largely being white, therefore racist to “black and brown boys.” That is simply not true. Especially not for California which is majority-minority. Police forces across the state are also majority-minority. The racial minorities in California, white Americans, seem to be the most vocal about “people of color” becoming targets of racism.
Removing police from schools will not make them more desirable places to be, let alone safer. Security is needed. Parents shouldn’t feel safe sending their children to public K-12 schools without a police force. Hopefully, this experiment simply fails on it’s own lack of merit rather than failing through tragedy.
SOURCES:
Oakland Abolishes School Police Department
Oakland school board eliminates its police force on campus
Oakland School Board Votes To Remove OUSD Police From School Campuses – CBS San Francisco
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