New Report Details Number Of Arrests, Summonses At NYC Public Schools
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A new report is out, detailing the number of New York City public school students who got in trouble with the law at school.
The report from the New York Civil Liberties Union showed an average of 11 kids a day were arrested or ticketed while at school.
"The first person who's there to handle student misbehavior is actually a police officer rather than a guidance counselor or rather than a social worker," NYCLU's advocacy director Udi Ofer told WCBS 880's Jim Smith.
WCBS 880's Jim Smith reports
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"The police continues to be in the business of enforcing minor school discipline," Ofer told Smith.
"The bottom line is in too many circumstances, what used to be a walk to the principal's office is now a walk in handcuffs to the local precinct," Ofer said.
The NYCLU compiled the data using NYPD school safety data. The 2011-2012 school year was the first full year that numbers were made public.
"Rather than focusing on crimes, they're focusing on horseplay," Ofer told Smith. "There are examples of students getting arrested for things like writing on their desk," Ofer said.
The NYCLU report also showed that "more than 95% of the arrests were black and Latino students," Ofer said.
The NYPD insists its officers work in an unbiased manner.
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