NYC Public Schools Down 2000 School Safety Agents
Private Officer International
NEWS EXCLUSIVE
NYC Public Schools Down 2000 School Safety Agents
New York NY February 5, 2022
In a Private Officer International news exclusive, we have found a disturbing trend of violence, targeted attacks on students, bullying and a serious lack of law enforcement or security on many school campuses across the country.
While the trend for more than two years has been to decrease uniform presence on many school campuses, violence, student and staff assaults, robberies and bullying has steadily increased in almost all metropolitan school districts.
Our staff reporters spent six months pouring through police reports, news accounts, video and eyewitness statements and what was found is extremely disturbing.
The largest school district in the country, New York City, is down more than 2000 school security agents. Some were removed from the public schools after protestors demands, others were not funded in recent fiscal budgets, and many who quit or were terminated, were never replaced.
Some parents in Chelsea say the lack of safety in their schools is out of control.
They claim even principals have asked the city for more school safety agents but said that their requests have been falling on deaf ears.
Both Bridgeport and New Haven Connecticut school districts would not go into detail about their security programs though a school security staff member said they need more help.
In recent months both school systems have had a number of fights and assaults on school property.
In 2020 and 2021, schools defunded and removed School Resource Officers after many minority parents complained that their children were constant targets of law enforcement, a claim that a National Association of School Resources spokesperson denied.
We have mentored and help many school children that we protect daily. We are not there to arrest the student but at the same time, sometimes situations occur where an arrest is warranted.
More than one hundred school systems and districts removed law enforcement and security officers from campus, defunding their services and ending contract with local law enforcement and private security companies.
Back in New York City, a female student was recently repeatedly punched in the stairwell at Middle School 297 on Morton Street and another was pulled by her hair to the ground outside. Seventh grader Paul Ramos said there’s not enough safety agents to monitor the six floors of the school. After someone hit him with a locker door, he transferred out last month.
“I was being kicked around, messed with, punched,” Ramos said.
“So he basically couldn’t concentrate on learning,” his mother, Olivia Ramos, added. “There’s not a librarian, but there’s five assistant principals. So, you tell me where the priorities are there.”
Racial attacks and bullying are also happening inside school walls at an alarming rate. The attacks many times mirror wolf packs pouncing on their prey said an African American Memphis school security guard who did not want to identify himself because he still works at the school. He said that students are robbed, assaulted, bullied and threatened daily with little chance of being busted by the cops. There are fewer of us, and parents still want the Shelby County deputies out of all of our schools. They don’t care about the violence that’s happening here.
In Louisville Kentucky, where SRO’s were removed from campuses amid a rise in constant brawls and students bringing loaded guns to class, JCPS refused to allow resource officers back in schools. A battle raged between some of the students, parents and school administrators.
But police, were being sent to schools almost daily for violent crimes, disorderly students and an array of problems that kept stacking up said Metro Louisville police in a local TV news interview.
Then in January 2022, a new security plan was approved, funding school safety administrators and officers.
According to the plan, there will be 66 school safety administrators, 15 school safety officers, 15 re-classified school security monitors and five district security officers.
Officials expected the new security plan will cost JCPS more than $7 million.
The school board’s vote to approve the plan was unanimous.
Coby Westerly, a retired school resource officer from Indiana is frustrated that school administrators and board members across the country fell to the pressure of some of the parents and protestors with claims that were not true. Westerly said that those who call cops in school a pipeline to prison is not there when police make these arrests. Most kids were never disciplined or never criminally punished even for serious offenses. SRO’s are some of the kindest, most caring bunch you’ll ever find with many being parents themselves. But these days students have very little support systems, some have mental health issues, and some are members in a gang. All of that comes to school with them and it’s the teachers, principals and school officers that have to sort all of that out and I know everyone does their best to help these kids.
Since the beginning of the school year in 2021, school after school, have begun to bring police and security officers back to school campuses because of the continual uptick of violent crimes on campus.
In recent months the city of Pomona California, Westwood Regional School District in New Jersey, South Bend Indiana, Tacoma Washington, Alexandria Virginia, East Haven, and Taft Union High School District approved a resolution in a special meeting on Monday to establish its own security department.
Other school districts have also brought back some of their officers while other schools remain on the fence about whether it is necessary.
