California’s biggest public-school system is slashing its police officer numbers by a third—and the officers who are left have been banned from using pepper-spray on students. According to The New York Times, trustees of the Los Angeles Unified School District have approved a plan to remove 133 positions from the district’s 400-member police force. Around $25 million of police funds will be diverted to support programs for students from minority communities, and school police officers will no longer be allowed to carry pepper-spray. The decision followed a yearlong campaign by student activists and community members who said the school police force has targeted Black and Latino kids. A coalition of student activist and advocacy groups said in a statement: “This victory is a crucial step towards mitigating the years of disinvestment and ending the criminalization and over-policing of Black students and students of color in LAUSD.”
