The Los Angeles School Police Department, which serves the nation’s second-largest school system, will return three grenade launchers but intends to keep 61 rifles and a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicle it received through a federal program that furnishes local law enforcement with surplus equipment

Los Angeles Unified school police officials said Tuesday that the department will relinquish some of the military weaponry it acquired through the pogram. The move comes as education and civil rights groups have called on the U.S. Department of Defense to halt the practice for schools.

LA Unified is one of at least 22 school systems in eight states that participate in the program, which provides law enforcement agencies with the extra military-grade gear at no charge.

The program gained notoriety and received sharp criticism after recent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., in which local police deployed armored vehicles, wore body armor and carried assault rifles while attempting to quell protests after the shooting death of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer.

More than $5 billion in surplus military equipment has been distributed to law enforcement agencies nationwide, including school police, since 1997.

School police departments have increased their presence and force in recent years, particularly after the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Conn., in which a gunman killed 26 people — 20 of them children — at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The shooting spurred debate nationwide over whether armed school guards could prevent mass shootings. In California, at least half a dozen school districts allow campus officers to carry high-powered rifles.

School officials argue the guns and other equipment are needed to prevent potential tragedies.Militarized Schools? “L.A. Schools Police Dept. to Return Grenade Launchers”

The Los Angeles School Police Department, which serves the nation’s second-largest school system, will return three grenade launchers but intends to keep 61 rifles and a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicle it received through a federal program that furnishes local law enforcement with surplus equipment

Los Angeles Unified school police officials said Tuesday that the department will relinquish some of the military weaponry it acquired through the pogram. The move comes as education and civil rights groups have called on the U.S. Department of Defense to halt the practice for schools.

LA Unified is one of at least 22 school systems in eight states that participate in the program, which provides law enforcement agencies with the extra military-grade gear at no charge.

The program gained notoriety and received sharp criticism after recent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., in which local police deployed armored vehicles, wore body armor and carried assault rifles while attempting to quell protests after the shooting death of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer.

More than $5 billion in surplus military equipment has been distributed to law enforcement agencies nationwide, including school police, since 1997.

School police departments have increased their presence and force in recent years, particularly after the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Conn., in which a gunman killed 26 people — 20 of them children — at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The shooting spurred debate nationwide over whether armed school guards could prevent mass shootings. In California, at least half a dozen school districts allow campus officers to carry high-powered rifles.

School officials argue the guns and other equipment are needed to prevent potential tragedies.

SOURCE::

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-schools-weapons-20140917-story.html