LA School District Reluctantly Gives Up Their Grenade Launchers

[Mike]

We've been detailing the issue of police militarization for quite some time around here (though the best resource on the issue has been Radley Balko, who wrote an excellent book on the topic). The issue has finally become at least somewhat mainstream, thanks to the high-profile appearance of militarized police responding to the protests in Ferguson, Missouri. This has, at the very least, resulted in at least a few police departments thinking better of their decision to accept surplus military gear from the Defense Department via its 1033 program. And the latest is the Los Angeles School Police Department.

Just last week, MuckRock posted on its site about a FOIA request from California, detailing the military equipment given to school police forces. Just the fact that any military equipment is being given to school police should raise some serious questions, but the one that really stood out was that the LA School Police had been given three grenade launchers, along with 61 assault rifles and one MRAP (mine resistant vehicle -- the big scary looking armored vehicles that have become one of the key symbols of police militarization). Asked to explain itself, the LA School police chief, Steve Zipperman, claimed that the district had actually received the grenade launchers and the rifles all the way back in 2001 (though the MRAP is brand-spanking-new). But, he claimed, we shouldn't worry too much, because the police didn't think of them as "grenade launchers," but rather "ammunition launchers," and they were mainly kept around in case other police needed them:

Zipperman said that although the Pentagon identifies the three launchers as grenade launchers, civilian police call them less-deadly ammunition launchers. He assured me that the school police never had any intention of lobbing grenades at anyone, ever, and that they would not be used against students to launch anything. But as a police department, he said, LAUSD’s finest engage in mutual-aid pacts with other police agencies, and the ability to move those launchers out of storage might come in handy.

As for the assault rifles, Zipperman said they were converted to semiautomatic assault rifles -- why am I not feeling better yet? -- and are used to train a cadre of officers within the department. Those officers in turn are equipped with civilian semiautomatic rifles, which are either kept in locked compartments within their patrol cars, or in more centralized locations, in case of a Columbine High School-type gunman attack.

Either way, with the outrage and backlash growing, the school district police force has now agreed to give up the grenade launchers, but it's keeping the rifles and the MRAP. The department told the LA Times that the rifles were "essential life-saving items" though no evidence is given of what lives they've saved.

That same article at the LA Times quotes someone from the Oakland School Police Department up here in Northern California, who received a "tactical utility truck" from the Pentagon program, saying that the truck is "a rolling public relations vehicle." Public relations how, exactly? That if the police don't like the look of you, they may blow your head off? And then there's this:

"We end up having to bring out a gas can and jumper cables every time we want to drive it — it's only used twice a year."

If they have to bring out the gas can and jumper cables every time they want to use it, it doesn't sound like it's particularly useful in those "emergency" situations we keep hearing about in defense of these programs. If there's suddenly a big emergency, and the police have to go searching for some gas and the jumper cables? Perhaps that just shows how non-"essential" these giveaways are.

Originally Published: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 18:14:00 GMT
source

[stormium]

for those of you not familiar with the los angeles unified school district... they have their own police department. they mainly respond to alarms and other mundane bullshit... none of which would or could ever warrant their possession of grenade launchers, tactical armored vehicles or heavy weaponry.

[NIK]

I don't know what I find most absurd about this but I'm going to plumb for the concept of "real" police forces with "real" needs for "real" weapons borrowing them from schools.

[kjf]

I guess no one in this thread has seen how bad lunch time food fights get.

"less-deadly ammunition launchers" are just what one needs to handle an unruly bunch of grade schoolers.

[stormium]

yeah, but they get to keep the mine-resistant, anti-personnel vehicle... surely that can withstand having imitation hamburgers lobbed at it.

[NIK]

Try boarding a plane with a "burger distributor" in your carry on luggage.

[stormium]

burger distributor in carry on luggage

burger distributor in carry on luggage

they really don't need the semi-automatic carbines either. in the event of a shooting at a school, the lausd's police department will not be the first responders. the first responders will be either the lapd or the lasd... or whatever other police department has jurisdiction.

the whole issue is ridiculous.

[ViperScale]

There is no such thing as an "assault rifles", it is no different than calling client-server "the cloud" like it is something new. They are just plain ordinary rifles, but when you just call them rifles it doesn't seem as dangerous. What is wrong with semi-auto? It is the most common type of weapon in the world, they aren't new either. I think when people call them semi-auto people are like OMG they are using automatic weapons when it is the most common firearm type on the planet. The only people who don't use semi-auto are generally target shooters and some hunters (some still use black powder muzzle loaders during certain times of the year).

[stormium]

the issue with the lausd's school police having rifles is that they don't need them... just like they don't need grenade launchers or a freaking tank.

[NIK]

On the other hand, there has been considerable controversy recently over the use of cheaper "less deadly" lethal injections that take hours to end the lives of convicted murderers. Surely innocent children deserve more humane treatment than the very worst adult criminals?

If school authorities really do have to be able to shoot at first graders they shouldn't be using "less deadly" ammunition launchers they should be launching the most deadly ammunition possible, to keep suffering [not to mention the costs of healthcare for students who fail to die and whose parents sue the schools] to a minimum.