Work of Los Angeles School Police Department - Research Paper Example

Sur Los Angeles School Police Department Introduction: The Los Angeles School Police Department (LASPD) is in the United States and represents the largest independent department of school police. The department constitutes around 350 sworn police officers, 126 non-sworn school safety officers or SSOs, and 34 civilian staff for support who are committed towards performing their responsibilities for the LASPD. Considering the Los Angeles County, LASPD is the fifth largest police department, and recorded as the 14th largest in California. The department serves its customers through several assignments and services. Its customers include the school students, and the faculty of the schools and the employees of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). It also serves the communities where these students reside. The Police Officers and the School Safety Officers are given their respective responsibilities to serve the school campuses, surrounding areas, as well as the parking enforcement. The LASPD works with support from the LAUSD and is focused on achieving the safety of children and students (What is the LASPD about). The present study focuses on learning about the LASPD discussing about its various departments, its job structure and rankings, its differences with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), its impact on the community and the students, and also studies the schools that are protected by the LASPD. Departments within the LASPD: Sworn police officers, non-sworn school safety officers, and civilian support staff are the main employees working for the LASPD. The major departments working under the LASPD are the Chief’s Office, Campus Services Bureau, Administration Services Bureau, Support Services Bureau, and the School Safety Officers. The Chief of the Police Department is Steven K. Zipperman who takes the charge of looking over the roles played by the officers to check their mistakes and rectify them as and when needed. He holds membership to various professional schools for safety and police organizations and also provides with various leadership programs to employees working under him (Chief’s Office). The personnel engaged under the Campus Service Bureau coordinates with the Educational Service Centers, the Operations Coordinators, the School Crisis and Mental Health, the Campus Administrators, and other agencies that are associated. It takes the role of preventing victimization of students and promotes an environment for health learning of the students. Any critical incident occurring on the campus is attended by the team at the earliest and various services for protection of the campus and its surroundings and ensures safety for the schools under its charge (Campus Services Bureau). The role of the Administrative Services Bureau is to coordinate and manage the divisions of administration and investigation of the department. As part of its roles, the Bureau supervisions on the Payroll Unit of the department, as well as on other units such as the Budget Services, Records and Crime Analysis, responsibilities related to Custodian or Records, duties of Pitchess Motion, requests of Public Records, Subpoena Control Unit, and the Citation Control Unit. Also, the management of the fleet management, contract administration of the department is considered by the Bureau along with the management of the investigation division of the department (Administrative Services Bureau). The Support Services Bureau of the LASPD is in charge of the operations of off-hour patrolling of the department and the center of communication. The units that are overseen by this Bureau include the Canine, the Safe Passages Motor, and the Parking Enforcement. The support resources of the campus are managed by this team and critical information related to their services is communicated effectively all the way through the District. The Bureau also provides for protection coverage of the District during times when the schools are off intending to ensure safety of the schools and premises (Support Services Bureau). The school safety officers are basically civilians who are associated with the LASPD and are non-armed. They perform different services of the department with proper training being provided to them and thus are capable of providing safe educational environment for the schools that are under the charge of the LASPD. Gradually with their performances and learning, the different duties of the department are learnt by the officers and many of them turn into police officers over time through efficiency of their works. The SSOs perform to provide safety not only to the small children but also for the schools for adults, occupational schools, and centers for skills. The SSOs also constitute the Unit of Parking Enforcement thereby helping the drivers to park properly within the school premises (School Safety Officer). Job Structure and Rankings at LASPD: The Chief of Police represents the head of the Department who is coordinated in his responsibilities by senior officers, boards and committees, sergeants and public information offices, the government, and control inspectors. Under him roles are played by the Campus Services Bureau, Support Services Bureau, and the Administrative Services Bureau. The roles of the Campus Services Bureau are coordinated by Career Development Coordinator and Clerical Support Secretary under whom the responsibilities and job rankings are divided into Valley-East, Valley-West, West, Central, East and South Divisions. Under these divisions, the job rankings include LT Commanding Officer, Sergeants, Sr. Police Officers, Campus Officers, and Campus SSO’s (Los Angeles School Police Department – Reorganization Chart 2012-2013). The services of the Support Services Bureau are coordinated by Employee Relations and District HQ coordinators, and Clerical Support Secretary, followed by the role of the Operations Support Division. Under this role are included the responsibilities of the Supervisors, Sergeants, Senior Police Officers, Support Services Sergeants, Special Events Coordinator, and other associated officers. The Administrative Services Bureau is coordinated by Critical Reassignment Committee, and Clerical Support Secretary followed by the role of Investigative and Administrative Divisions. Under these divisions the roles are played by Lt. Commanding Officers, Sergeants, Detectives, Control Units, Public Records Units, Sr. Police Officers, and Police Officers (Los Angeles School Police Department – Reorganization Chart 2012-2013). Transfer to Agencies and Crime Rate Data: The different divisions of the department have different responsibilities. In general the roles and tasks are set and are not transferred from one another or to different agencies. However, there are responsibilities which are in many cases common to the Clerical Support Secretary and also for the police officers, the sergeants, the commanding officers, and the SSOs. They play the common roles but generally allocation of the officers is done under the different divisions of the department. Transfer in between these roles and agencies might be possible for the department to consider (Los Angeles School Police Department – Reorganization Chart 2012-2013). Rates of crimes in the schools in Los Angeles have been recorded to have reduced over the years. Crimes related to homicides, robbery, theft, aggravated assaults, auto theft, burglary, have been reduced (Kandel). Such reduction in crimes can be attributed to the increasing effect of the crime prevention measures of LASPD. The team members of the LASPD have over the time developed effective programs and leadership to deal with crimes in Los Angeles and hence provide protection and safety for the schools, the school children, and the premises. Differences between the LASPD and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD): While the Los Angeles School Police Department is concerned with offering and providing safety and protection against crimes and victimization of school children, schools and premises and the authorities and surroundings of the schools; the Los Angeles Police Department or Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) is concerned with protection, promotion, and improvement of the working conditions of the police officers in Los Angeles, looking over their benefits and compensations as well (What is the LASPD about; About Us). The major difference is that while LAPD is concerned with the overall crime prevention and dealing with crimes in Los Angeles, the LASPD is particularly focused on the schools and premises for their protection and safety. Unlike the LASPD that has partnerships with different agencies, LAPD has working partnerships with several communities intended towards ensuring safety and protection for the society as a whole (Our Communities). While in LASPD, the Chief of Police represents the head of the department as mentioned earlier in the report; in case of LAPD, the Board of Police Commissioners represent the head of the LAPD. They act like a board of directors of a corporate, supervising the operations of the department and setting up policies for the department as well. The Chief of Police in this case coordinates works for the head of the department and the role of the Chief is like a chief executive officer where he needs to report to the Board in regard to his tasks, duties, and reporting (Police Commission). Another difference between the LAPD and the LASPD is in their innovativeness of programs. While LASPD is known for its effective leadership programs given by the Chief of the Police himself, the LAPD is known for setting up a standard for innovative training programs for effective performances of the police officers. Its innovative programs such as SWAT and its Police Academy are its popular programs. Police services are provided by the LAPD in the most diverse cities in the country in terms of ethnicity and geographical differences. With greater number of individuals being working for the department, the job opportunities are also more for the LAPD than the LASPD (Careers). Impact of LASPD on Community and Students: Schools Covered: The entire team of the LASPD is committed towards providing safety and protection to the schools and premises, and the children in Los Angeles. Several police officers and other employees are associated with performing the tasks of the department in order to achieve their objectives. The quality of issues related to life has been effectively addressed by the department and with effective partnership of the department with agencies of local municipal enforcement, communities of residences and businesses, organizations based on faith, and other non-profit community service organizations, the department has effectively achieved safety and protection for the school children and the surroundings of schools (What is the LASPD about). It can be understood that the impact of the LASPD has been highly positive on the school students as well as on the community as a whole. As already mentioned, the rates of crimes in schools have reduced significantly over the years reflecting the effectiveness of the programs or crime prevention and control by the departments. There are safety tips for the school children, the school departments, as well as for the parents that make the tasks of the department for effective. For instance, with slightest of doubt being occurred in the mind of any individual in regard to occurrence of any crime, the LASPD can be immediately contacted who then takes the necessary actions. Suggestions are provided to the school children to stay and move along with parents or friends and strictly avoid any strangers, to cross roads safely, and choose such routes to travel to and from school that are safe. The department has made it necessary for the children, the school authorities, as well as the parents to be aware of everything happening in their surroundings that helps LASPD to take actions at the earliest for any crime that is about to happen (Safety Tips). Thus the impact of the LASPD can be said to be positive on the schools and the communities reflected by the reduced crime rates in schools as well as the ways in which the department has enabled the school children, the school authorities, and the parents to be aware of crimes and be preventive of them. The LASPD is concerned mostly with providing safety and protection to the schools under the association of the LAUSD. Thus the schools listed under the LAUSD are in charge of the LASPD. This includes mainly the K-12 schools. However there are some adult schools as well that are taken care of for protection by the LASPD. These are mainly the public schools in Los Angeles that are covered under this category of services (Police in LAUSD Schools: The Need For Accountability and Alternatives). Conclusion: It can be concluded from the above study that the Los Angeles School Police Department has been working towards ensuring one of the most essential need of the region – which is the safety and security of the schools. The department essentially provides means of protection for the public schools listed under the LAUSD and divides its roles and responsibilities into several divisions, each having different set of officers and employees to complete tasks for the department. The difference of the LASPD with that of the LAPD could also be obtained from the study with LAPD being a broader concept and LASPD being focused particularly on the prevention and control of crimes in the public schools. However, it can be said that the department has been doing excellently well in its task and would be recommended to keep up with its teams and processes to remain effective in the future as well. References “About Us.” Los Angeles Police Protection League. LAPD, 2010. Web. 11 November 2013 . “Administrative Services Bureau.” Los Angeles School Police Department. LASPD, n.d. Web. 9 November 2013 . “Campus Services Bureau.” Los Angeles School Police Department. LASPD, n.d. Web. 8 November 2013 . “Careers.” LAPD. Joinlapd, 2011. Web. 12 November 2013 . “Chief’s Office.” Los Angeles School Police Department. LASPD, n.d. Web. 8 November 2013 . Kandel, Jason. “Crime Drops for 10th Year in Los Angeles.” NBC Southern California. Nbclosangeles, 2013. Web. 11 November 2013 . “Los Angeles School Police Department – Reorganization Chart 2012-2013.” LASPD, n.d. Web. 10 November 2013 . “Our Communities.” The Los Angeles Police Department. LAPD, 2013. Web. 11 November 2013 . “Police Commission.” The Los Angeles Police Department. LAPD, 2013. Web. 12 November 2013 . “Police in LAUSD Schools: The Need For Accountability and Alternatives.” Dignity in Schools. Dignityinschools, 2010. Web. 12 November 2013 . “Safety Tips.” Los Angeles School Police Department. LASPD, n.d. Web. 12 November 2013 . “School Safety Officer.” Los Angeles School Police Department. LASPD, n.d. Web. 9 November 2013 . “Support Services Bureau.” Los Angeles School Police Department. LASPD, n.d. Web. 9 November 2013 . “What is the LASPD about.” Los Angeles School Police Department. LASPD, n.d. Web. 8 November 2013 . Read More