Pomona Unified says goodbye to on-campus police in effort to reimagine safety

Pomona Unified, a large suburban school district east of Los Angeles, decided to cut ties with on-campus police this week, joining a small but growing number of school districts that are attempting to reimagine student safety.

The move comes in the wake of several high-profile police misconduct cases, including the murder of George Floyd in 2020, which spurred protests across the country against police brutality. Local organizers presented to the school board in April data that showed Black and Latino students in the district were arrested at disproportionately higher rates than other students.

“This is a milestone that has been met,” Caroline Lucas, a Pomona youth organizer who advocated for the removal of officers at Pomona High, told the Los Angeles Times. “For me, it means that leaders can experiment with what transformative activists have been trying to do.”

Pomona Unified serves 23,000 students and previously contracted with Pomona police to have an officer at each of its four high schools. The district paid nearly $366,000 to fund two officers in 2019, according to the Times.

That money will instead be used to help students recover from a challenging school year online during a pandemic.

“Our focus has been about re-engaging students and making sure that they’re ready to come back to school,” Superintendent Richard Martinez said.

Pomona police spokeswoman Aly Mejia told the Times that the department “always taken pride in the meaningful relationship we’ve established with our community and Pomona youth.”