Increased Police Presence Begins Monday For LAUSD Campuses In Wake Of Newtown School Shootings
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Los Angeles Unified School District campuses reopened after winter break Monday with tighter security in the wake of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
The Los Angeles Police Department, the sheriff's department and at least a dozen other law enforcement agencies in the Southland will now add random daily patrols to more than 600 elementary and middle school campuses. Officers can be expected to visit schools as many as three times a day.
Local law enforcement will also add charter and private schools to their watches if requested. Area high schools already have increased security measures in place, according to LAUSD officials.
The increased patrols of the nation's second-largest school district were announced on Dec. 17 by police Chief Charlie Beck.
"I'm going to use all 10,000 Los Angeles police officers. We won't be there all the time -- but no one will ever know when we will be there. I don't want anyone to think they can walk into a school in Los Angeles and be immune from the police. Cause you won't be," he said.
Beck emphasizes that there are no direct threats to any area schools and that the increased patrols are a precautionary measure.
Officers will optimally spend "up to 30 minutes a day at these schools meeting with school members, principals, possibly some of the other school staff, teachers, as well as some of the parents," Sgt. Brian Gura of the LAPD said.
KNX 1070's John Brooks reports LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy and other district officials are evaluating current safety measures and have traveled to Newtown, Conn. to gather more information to be used in the reviews.
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"What is different is the municipal deployment at our more than 450 elementary, more than 85 middle, and more than 80 early childhood centers," Deasy told reporters.
