{"id":115063,"date":"2021-04-09T14:34:49","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T14:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=ea4163fb3fda6cced5c8893700c4a09a"},"modified":"2021-04-09T14:34:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T14:34:49","slug":"more-than-two-thirds-of-students-want-police-out-of-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/09\/more-than-two-thirds-of-students-want-police-out-of-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than Two-Thirds of Students Want Police Out of Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Protesters<\/a>

A new survey of more than 600 middle and high school students across four states finds that 41 percent feel \u201cvery unsafe\u201d or \u201cunsafe\u201d when they see police officers at their public schools. One-third said they feel targeted by police based on an aspect of their identity, such as race, primary language, sexual orientation or gender identity, and students reported bullying and sexual harassment by police at multiple public schools. <\/p>\n

When asked what does make them feel safe at school, students overwhelming said \u201cteachers\u201d and \u201cfriends,\u201d and more than two-thirds said police should be removed from school altogether. Only 16 percent of students said police make them feel safe. Corrine Blake, a 9th grader in New York City and youth leader with the Urban Youth Collaborative, which conducted the survey locally, said the findings make her feel \u201cdisgusted and angry\u201d at the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the experiences of young children and teenagers across the country, yet it feels personal because they reflect how I feel,\u201d Blake said in a statement. \u201cAt school, police don\u2019t make me feel safe; instead, they make me feel like I did something wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The in-depth survey<\/a> of recent and current students of public schools in Oregon, New York, Nevada and New Jersey reveals broad support for the student-led movement to remove police from schools<\/a> and increase funding for teachers, student programming and mental health supports. Activists are relatedly fighting to end the school-to-prison pipeline<\/a>, which refers to policies and practices that isolate students and color, LGBTQ students, immigrants and students with disabilities from supportive learning environments and instead funnels them toward the criminal legal system. This puts students at risk of being incarcerated, or in the case of undocumented students, deported or separated from family members.<\/p>\n

Redirecting funding from police departments to education and social programs is also a longstanding goal of the movement for Black lives that has inspired nationwide protests against the over-policing of communities of color. Of the students surveyed who report seeing cops at school, 50 precent said they have seen police interrupt learning to remove students from the classroom, and one in five reported that the cops verbally harass or make fun of students. Alarmingly, students reported sexual harassment by police in three of the four local areas surveyed, and more than a quarter said they have seen students arrested at school.<\/p>\n

Of the students who reported a police presence at school, 32 percent said they saw police at school on a daily basis and 95 percent said they see cops at least once a month. Students also reported frequent interactions with security guards; 30 percent of Black students said they interact with security guards on a daily basis. Metal detectors are more common at majority Black and Brown schools, and students of color were more likely to be searched and have belongings taken by police or security guards than white students. <\/p>\n

In the Las Vegas school district of Clark County, more than a quarter of students reported that they or someone they know has been pepper sprayed by police at school. School police in the district made headlines<\/a> after using pepper spray in response to fights between students in recent years, with dozens of students and faculty<\/a> pepper-sprayed in one high-profile incident.<\/p>\n