Districts that removed police officers from schools after the death of George Floyd three years ago are quietly bringing them back due to concerns about an increase in fights, drugs, and weapons, The Washington Times reported on Sunday.
Almost three dozen school districts nationwide kicked police officers out of schools within a year after Floyd's death in May 2020, spurred largely by a perceived racial bias in police enforcement at schools.
Some of the largest school systems in the U.S., including in Los Angeles and Chicago, cut funding for police programs by as much as half, while other school districts — such as in Oakland, California, and Columbus, Ohio — removed police officers completely.
"The country was reeling from the George Floyd killing," Jacque Patterson, an at-large member of the District of Columbia State Board of Education, told The Washington Times. "There's a trigger there for many people who live in communities that are underserved or marginalized, and so that trickled into the schools itself."
But without police at school, there was a sharp rise in violence, drug use, and the number of guns and knives on school grounds, sparking many districts nationwide that had cut police budgets to restore them for the upcoming school year, according to The Washington Times.
That decision was spurred by several incidents during the first two months of class without a police presence, including the arrests of two students accused of bringing a knife and a gun to campus.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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