School Police Gun Plan Advances

An emotionally charged proposal to equip Los Angeles school police cars with 12-gauge shotguns cleared its first hurdle Thursday when a Board of Education committee agreed to send the plan to the full board as early as Monday.

But debate continued to rage over a weapon that police call a necessary tool but parents and some school board members label a danger to students.

“I still feel that shotguns could never be deployed while youngsters are on campus,” said school board member Valerie Fields, a member of the board’s safety committee. “We need to be conservative to the nines on weapons deployment.”

Board member Barbara Boudreaux defended the use of the weapons.

“The myth is out there that our officers [will be] running around with shotguns. That’s not true,” she said. “If they are going to be called a law enforcement agency then they need to be equipped with proper tools.”

Reaction was equally mixed among PTA officials and others across Los Angeles, partly because shotguns fire a spray of pellets that can hit a wider range of targets than the pistols now carry.

Although school police stressed that the most likely use of shotguns would occur during off-campus incidents, many parents and teachers were concerned not only with the safety of students but also the psychological effects of having the imposing weapons around children.

“It’s terrifying for these kids,” said Carmen Trelles, director of IMPACTO, a Boyle Heights community group that provides tutoring and after-school programs. “They see what little guns can do and I think this would affect them tremendously. They already feel like they’re living in a war here. I think this would make them scared to go outside.”

Some parents said they reluctantly supported a measure amid lingering concerns.

“If there’s a situation that arises, will every officer make the same kind of decision and put the children’s safety first?” asked Gloria Gary, director of community concerns for the 10th District parent-teacher association. “That’s in the minds of most of us.”

School police say they need the weapons to combat well-armed criminals, and that the equipment already is commonplace among other police agencies.

The request to buy 75 shotguns for patrol cars comes as campus violence is decreasing.

Statistics compiled by the school district show that the numbers of confiscated weapons and weapons-related crimes have dropped steadily since 1991 when the school district started using metal detectors for random searches and began expelling students caught with weapons on campus.

Much of that crime has spilled over to the surrounding neighborhoods, police say. Added to other criminal activity, it has placed young people in danger when they leave their schools.

Police say they were reminded of the problem on Tuesday when a 17-year-old Huntington Park High student was shot and killed by a gang member after an argument about three blocks from campus.

In support of their proposal, school police officials documented 22 gun-related incidents from November to January, many of which occurred off campus. They included the drive-by shooting death of a Monroe High School student after a school football game and the killing of a Hamilton High School student who was shot in the head while walking home from school.

School police say that criminals rarely differentiate between their uniforms and the similarly colored uniforms in the Los Angeles Police Department.

“As long as the officers are asked to go out there and be a buffer between society and school, they need to be equipped properly,” said Kevan Otto, a member of the Police Officers Assn., which drafted the proposal.

Shotguns fire a blast of several balls. They are less dangerous to distant bystanders than rifles or pistols, law enforcement authorities say, because a police pistol bullet can carry more than a mile, while shotgun pellets and balls have a short range.

Some law enforcement officers also contend that the psychological impact of the shotgun--its larger size and the menacing steely “ker-chunk” of an officer pumping a shell into the chamber--frightens some suspects into surrendering, while they might be tempted to fight with or flee from an officer armed only with a pistol.

School district Police Chief Wesley Mitchell said any officer who uses a shotgun will first undergo 16 hours of additional refresher training beyond the 72 hours of firearms training required by the state.

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But even the chief’s confidence in the proposal could not quell fears of critics--including students--who doubt whether the weapons will deter violence.

‘It’s bad enough they’re carrying pistols already,” said James Smith, a senior at Westchester High School. “We don’t need that at a public school. We don’t need more guns, we need more programs.”

The measure could appear on the school board’s agenda Monday. The board would discuss the matter but could not take action until its next meeting on Feb. 23.

Some parents and teachers hope the measure will be delayed.

Times correspondent Michael Krikorian contributed to this story.