STOCKTON DANCES BACK FROM THE EDGE, JUST A LITTLE BIT, FOR A LITTLE WHILE

by Bob Walsh

A proposal to shitcan the Stockton Unified School District Police Department has been changed from an action item to a discussion item.  Lange Luntao, the member of the Board of Trustees to made the proposal, also made the change.  Other members of the board made the request of him in order to bring some other items into the discussion.  

The President on the Board, Kathy Garcia, believes the PD is just great.  

It is hard to judge public input solidly due to a number of different venues of comment, but the public opinion seems to be running about 4-1 in favor of dumping the department.   The district created its own police force in 1987.

One of the big beefs with the department is that police actions by it seem to land disproportionately on non-White students.  The fact that there is about 17 White students in the whole school district doesn't seem to matter much.  The U. S. Census Department asserts that San Joaquin County is probably the most ethnically diverse county in the whole country.

Luntao has said flat-out that he wants to take the PD budget, which is about $6-8 million, and move it to "other programs and services that have been proven to be more effective in supporting the well-being of students and keeping students safe."  I guess actual physical safety is  not one of those things that he believes helps keep students safe.