NYPD School Safety officers at Richmond Hill High School in Queens (@NYPDSchools)
June 11, 2020 By Allie Griffin
Two school advocacy groups are calling out the mayor for his refusal to pull police officers out of public schools.
Yesterday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the more than 5,000 NYPD school safety agents should remain at city schools, when asked at a daily press briefing.
“I personally believe that the better approach is to continue what we have, but improve it, reform it,” de Blasio said in response to a Chalkbeat reporter‘s question on whether he was considering removing the police department from enforcing school safety.
The Alliance for Quality Education and The Dignity in Schools Campaign NY today denounced the mayor’s comments and refusal to remove NYPD officers from public schools.
“Yesterday, Mayor de Blasio doubled down on the criminalization of black and brown youth by refusing to remove the NYPD from schools,” said Maria Bautista, Campaigns Director at the Alliance for Quality Education.
“It is clear de Blasio does not have the moral or political courage to tackle one of the most troubling and concerning racial justice issues of our time: the role of police in our schools and communities.”
Bautista said that there are more NYPD safety agents in city schools than officers in the entire Boston Police Department — more than double, according to reports.
“NYC students are being policed more than whole cities and the consequence is a school-to-prison industry that is disproportionately impacting black and brown students,” she said in a statement.
School districts in other cities— like Minneapolis and Portland — have recently chosen to cut ties with law enforcement as outrage over police brutality has swept the country.
De Blasio, on the other hand, is looking to reform the NYPD’s handling of school safety, instead of removing officers from school hallways.
But critics and even DOE employees disagree with de Blasio’s assessment and have called for the DOE Office of Safety and Youth Development to takeover the training and supervision of school safety officers from the NYPD.
7 Comments
The first day after officers are removed somebody comes into the school with a gun or a knife and hurts or kills a student or a teacher, then they’ll say the cops didn’t come there fast enough or some other excuse they’ll use to put blame somewhere else besides themselves.
If the students go follows regulación is not problemas at all, how about if a killer from outside like already happen in all those high school? Nooo we can go to the extremes, which group is the one who want to be free to do what ever they one to? To whom we go to complain to, who go to pay millons of dollars to the victims?please we wants a better country no a country with no rules.
Oh just stop with this bullish!t of vilifying law enforcement. Do not blame all law enforcement for the actions of a small few. Isn’t this what the black and brown community doesn’t want law enforcement to do to them. Without school safety in the schools it would be a lawless hell hole. Don’t act like idiots and commit crimes and law enforcement won’t bother you. Police in this country have over 5 million interactions with the public every year and the cases of Police Brutality make up less than 1% of those interactions. Can reforms be made sure, improvements can be made in every job. I swear we are living in the Twilight Zone where people are praising criminals.
Are you kidding? You should increase the amount of safety officers in school. They are needed as well as additional guidance counselors and social workers. There must be order
and then learning can begin.
Bautista needs to get her facts straight about NYPD School Safety. She failed to admit that crimes in schools were at an all time high until PD took over. She also failed to admit that DOE was sweeping many crimes under the rug. She also exaggerated saying that we have more school safety than the Boston Police department when in fact many schools have a lack of adequate agents and are tired of many overtimes because of the shortage of man power. We have about 80 percent black and hispanic agents and she dares talk about Racial discriminations in the public schools? Give me a break. Bautista needs a reality check. Stop politicizing nonsense because of what took place in Minneapolis that has nothing to do with NYC public schools. Nice try.
There was a reason the police were brought into the schools.
You right, Maria! It’s time to pull the officers from school where black and brown students go. Let police protect only those who are not black and brown, that’s your whole idea, right? In your downward spiral fall and racial hysteria you’re going to hurt the students, all of them, more than any police officer ever did