Property crime on the rise at LAUSD schools following cuts to weekend, overnight school patrols, police say

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles School Police Department and the union representing them tell FOX 11 there’s been a major uptick in property crime at LAUSD campuses since schools were closed at the beginning of the pandemic, and that it’s only gotten worse since weekend and overnight patrols were slashed as a result of LAUSD’s vote to reduce the school police budget by $25 million.

Sources within the LA School Police Department tell FOX 11 they no longer have adequate resources to respond to crimes throughout the school district in a quick and effective matter during the weekend and overnight hours.

“Following COVID we saw upwards of a 700% increase in property crimes, specifically burglaries,” said Billy Etue, the Vice President of the Los Angeles School Police Officers Association.

Etue says that crime wave has only gotten worse since the LAUSD school board voted 4-3 in late June to slash the school police budget by 35%, or $25 million. He says that resulted in heavy cuts to weekend and overnight patrol staffing

“By reducing the weekends we are going to look at probably a further increase in property crimes, especially once it gets out into the general public that there won’t be officers responding to these incidents,” Etue said. “It emboldens those who are willing to commit crimes.”

Video obtained by FOX 11 shows criminals recording themselves as they break into Stoner Elementary School in Culver City on August 1st. By the time they were done, more than $30,000 in LAUSD property had been damaged or stolen. A source tells FOX 11 there were no patrols available to respond.

Photos obtained by FOX 11 show a break in at Hillcrest Elementary, where we’re told staff members came face two face with two burglars, but there were no police resources available to quickly respond when they called for help.

FOX 11 has also obtained police reports showing heavy volume of crimes taking place at schools across the LA area.

On August 19th, school police reports show eight different crimes being reported at multiple schools in the San Fernando Valley, all in a single day.

On July 27th, seven different schools were burglarized or vandalized in a single day, according to police reports.

School police sources tell FOX 11 they expect things to get worse.

A source provided FOX 11 with an email sent out to the department from LA School Police Deputy Chief Christopher Stevens which says in part “The Department is moving personnel to support daytime operations in anticipation of a reduction in force, due to proposed budget cuts. Effective Sunday, August 30th, we will no longer staff C Watch on the weekends.”

“Some people don’t understand that LAUSD is 710 square miles, we have over 1,300 school sites that our folks patrol and by cutting us by $25 million, we can only expect those services and that prevention is going to be reduced significantly,” Etue said.

The four LAUSD Board Members who voted to cut funding to the school police by 35% are Monica Garcia, Jackie Goldberg, Nick Melvoin, and Kelly Gonez. FOX 11 reached out to all of them on Thursday, including their staff’s, but none of them responded.

FOX 11 also had an interview set up with a LA School Police Sergeant Thursday evening who was ready to provide photos, videos, and more statistics regarding the crime uptick.

However, shortly after FOX 11 reached out the School Board members for comment, the Sergeant told FOX 11 he was instructed by higher ups that he was not permitted to interview with us.

FOX 11 asked a LAUSD spokeswoman why this happened, and has not received an answer as of Thursday night.