LAUSD cuts ties to military weapons program

The Los Angeles Unified School District's police agency will no longer receive military equipment through a Department of Defense program, school Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines announced. The move follows controversy over grenade launchers and mine resistant vehicles the district obtained through the program, known as 1033.

Cortines wouldn't comment, but revealed the end of the district's participation in a June 19 letter to the social justice group Fight for the Soul of the Cities. The group received the letter this week, spokesman Manuel Criollo said.

The 1033 program provides surplus gear to local police at no cost. LAUSD had claimed grenade launchers and an MRAP armored vehicle, among other items, through the program.

But officials sent back the grenade launchers in September after they drew a flurry of criticism. Though it initially called the MRAP "life-saving" last fall, the district changed its tune and returned that, too.

Criollo called the effort to remove military equipment from L.A. schools "a struggle of attrition".

He said his organization was encouraged by the decision to withdraw from the program, but called on L.A. Unified to write a letter to the Department of Defense formally ending the relationship.

"They have a responsibility as an educational institution to say that militarizing our police is ethically wrong," Criollo said.

The LAUSD's force of over 350 officers is the country's largest school police department.

According to Department of Defense data released this month, LAUSD's police still have 61 rifles that were donated by the military in 2006. Together, those guns are worth $30,439.

Criollo said the agency should return those, too.

Related: An FAQ on the Pentagon's 1033 surplus program

The district did not respond to a question from KPCC asking if it will give back those rifles and declined to make anyone available for an interview.

Federal data show that a handful of other California school districts have received military gear, including in Oakland, Stockton and Kern. But only Baldwin Park school police have also received firearms.

Cortines' letter comes after the Obama administration announced new restrictions in May on the gear that can be transferred to local police through 1033.

Police at K-12 schools now face stricter restrictions than other law enforcement agencies, though a KPCC analysis found the restrictions will have little practical effect at schools or elsewhere.

In his letter, Cortines said that LAUSD's decision to withdraw from 1033 donations preceded the restrictions, though it does not say when that decision was made.