BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-12 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2368
AUTHOR: Block
AMENDED: June 13, 2012
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 20, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Beth Graybill
SUBJECT : School security: School police departments.
SUMMARY
This bill reorganizes and clarifies the statute governing
school police and security departments.
BACKGROUND
Existing law designates the following individuals as peace
officers and vests them with police powers:
a) Members of a California Community College police
department as specified.
b) Persons employed as members of a police department of
a school district pursuant to Education Code � 38000.
c) Any peace officer employed by a K-12 public school
district or California Community College district who
has completed training prescribed by the Commission on
Pease Officer Standards and Training (POST).
(Penal Code �830.32)
Existing law authorizes a governing board to employ personnel
to ensure the safety of school district personnel, pupils,
and the real and personal property of the school district.
Under the direction of the superintendent of the district,
school districts may establish a security department under a
chief of security or a police department under the
supervision of a chief of police. Additionally, school
districts are authorized to assign a deputized reserve
officer to a school site to supplement the duties of school
police personnel. Current law expresses the intent of the
Legislature that a school district police department or
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security department is supplementary to city and county law
enforcement agencies and is not vested with police powers.
(Education Code � 38000)
Existing law specifies that persons employed and compensated
as members of a school district police department when
appointed and duly sworn, are peace officers for the purposes
of carrying out their duties of employment pursuant to Penal
Code � 830.32. (EC � 38001)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Reorganizes and clarifies the statute governing school
police and security departments.
2) Authorizes the governing board of a school district that
establishes a school police department under the
supervision of a school chief of police, to employ peace
officers, as defined in Section 830.32 of the Penal
Code, to ensure the safety of school district personnel
and pupils and the security of the real and personal
property of the school district.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. The Education Code gives the
governing board of a school district the authority to
establish a police department and the Penal Code
specifically extends peace officer powers to school
district police. Yet the same section of the Education
Code that authorizes the establishment of a police
department also expresses the intent of the Legislature
that a school district "police or security" department
is supplementary to city and county law enforcement and
is not vested with general police powers. The sponsor
of this bill, the Peace Officer Research Association of
California (PORAC), maintains that the original purpose
of this provision was to indicate the Legislature's
intent for security departments to be supplemental to
local law enforcement agencies. A review of the
legislative history did not reveal any explanation for
the conflict between the intent language and other
sections of the law.
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According to information provided by the author's office, the
role of school police has grown since the time when the
terms campus security and campus police were used
interchangeably and when school districts were first
given authority to establish security patrols whose
duties related to the prevention of vandalism to school
property and physical assaults against personnel and
pupils in or about the school premises. Over the years,
the role and training of school police officers has
grown to the same level as municipal peace officers.
Individuals who serve as peace officers in a school
police department undergo POST training and complete
additional training to work in a school setting with
juveniles. This bill updates the intent language and
terms in Section 38000 of the Education Code to reflect
the distinction that now exists between campus security
and campus police.
By creating separate subparagraphs pertaining to security
departments and police departments, limiting the intent
statement to the powers of school security departments
and by defining peace officers, AB 2368 provides much
needed clarification without expanding police powers.
2) School police power and authority . Advocacy groups have
expressed concern about the over reliance on
exclusionary discipline in public schools, noting that
as school police have evolved to full-fledged peace
officers, there has been a rise in zero-tolerance
discipline practices. They further note that
California's high suspension rate has coincided with the
increased use of school police by school districts, with
Black and Latino youth bearing a disproportionate brunt
of these practices.
SUPPORT
Los Angeles Unified School District
Peace Officers Research Association of California
San Diego Schools Police Officers Association
OPPOSITION
Books Not Bars
Labor/Community Strategy Center
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Youth Justice Coalition
Youth Law Center