Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.
This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
Police to encourage attendance before issuing truancy tickets to LAUSD students
A student on his way to school walks past a Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) school bus.
(
Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
)
Listen
0:48
Police to encourage attendance before issuing truancy tickets to LAUSD students
Police to encourage attendance before issuing truancy tickets to LAUSD students
Activists welcomed a new Los Angeles School Police policy Thursday that ends what they called overly aggressive truancy sweeps.
Laura Faer of the Public Counsel Law Center says in a recent five-year period the LAPD and school police issued nearly 50,000 tickets within LAUSD boundaries.
"We were seeing children who were on their way to school, their bus maybe had broken down, they were a few minutes late, or they had dropped off a sibling at another school site," she said. "They’re on their way to school and there are police flanking the outside of the school — so they’re trying to get to school and they’re being handed out tickets."
Faer says prior to the new policy, police frisked and handcuffed many students. Critics of the earlier truancy policy says the dropout rate increases with truancy sweeps, $250 tickets and mandatory court appearances for parents. They also say it results in ethnic and racial profiling.
Now, much of that will change: Officers will no longer give truancy tickets near campus and will encourage students to get to school instead of automatically issuing a ticket. There will be no school police ticket task forces or truancy sweeps within the first 90 minutes of school.
Those tickets, Laura Faer says, actually ended up having the opposite effect because students had to miss class to go to court.
School police Chief Steven Zipperman says his officers support goals to improve attendance and graduation rates.
Sponsored message
The Associated Press contributed to this story
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
