Article 5. Community Policing And Mentoring For School Safety Pilot Program of California Education Code >> Division 4. >> Title 2. >> Part 27. >> Chapter 8. >> Article 5.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
  (1) Studies have shown that indicators of risk for violence are associated with a child's experiences at school. Antisocial behavior or aggressiveness, which is sometimes combined with isolation, withdrawal, hyperactivity, or attention deficit disorder, places children at increased risk of violence.
  (2) These children are at risk of persistent antisocial behavior, such as skipping school, getting into fights, and misbehaving in class. Young people of both genders who engage in these activities are at increased risk of experiencing drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, violence, dropping out of school, and teen pregnancy.
  (3) It is well-known that some youth, even though exposed to multiple risk factors, do not succumb to violent, antisocial behavior. One of the defining factors for this outcome is bonding--positive relationships with family members, teachers, police officers, sheriffs' deputies, and other adults.
  (4) The Community Policing and Mentoring for School Safety Pilot Program brings this successful law enforcement strategy to California' s schools. By providing funding assistance, strict participation guidelines and assessments, the Community Policing and Mentoring for School Safety Pilot Program will bring highly trained law enforcement officers onto school campuses to work with students during and after school. Community policing in schools will provide the necessary opportunities for students' active involvement in positive activities, as well as trained personnel to teach them skills so that they may pursue later opportunities successfully. Community policing in schools provides a consistent system of recognition and reinforcement of positive behavior.
  (5) Many school safety approaches, including metal detectors, drug-sniffing dogs, armed private security personnel, and similar security measures, are more one-dimensional in their approach to school safety. The Community Policing and Mentoring for School Safety Pilot Program takes a multidimensional approach by involving the community, schools, parents or guardians, and law enforcement personnel in the design of the program that will serve their schools. The relationships developed, as a result of this process and the programs themselves, will be a strong preventative alternative to antisocial behavior in California's schools.
  (b) As used in this article, "community policing" means an approach to crime prevention that is founded on developing positive relationships between law enforcement and the community. In community policing, law enforcement becomes an integral facet of the community because officers work directly with the community and develop positive relationships with members of the community. Community members become more involved in their community's activities because they know they have the personal support of law enforcement. Community policing identifies factors that put young people at risk for violence in order to reduce or eliminate these factors and strengthen protective factors such as positive relationships with adults.

(a) In order to ensure that students enrolled in the California public schools attend campuses that are safe, secure, orderly, and purposeful places in which students and staff are free to learn and teach without the threat of physical or psychological harm, it is the intent of the Legislature that two-year grants be provided to the ABC Unified School District and the Downey Unified School District to establish community policing school safety and mentoring programs.
  (b) Grants under this article shall be awarded in order to develop and implement a plan that accomplishes both of the following:
  (1) Provision for a continuum of responses to school safety needs by employees of school districts and local law enforcement agencies.
  (2) Demonstration of a collaborative and integrated approach for implementing a system of providing safe and secure school environments between the school districts and local law enforcement agencies.
  (c) Grant funds shall be expended as determined by the multiagency juvenile justice coordinating council, established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 49351.
  (d) Grants under this article shall not be used to provide funding for school resource officers.

(a) (1) The Community Policing and Mentoring for School Safety Pilot Program is hereby established. The Community Policing and Mentoring for School Safety Pilot Program shall be administered by the State Department of Education for the purpose of reducing juvenile crime and delinquency. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall award grants to the ABC Unified School District and the Downey Unified School District to accomplish the goals set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 49350.5.
  (2) Programs funded pursuant to this article may include, but not necessarily be limited to, all of the following methods of community policing:
  (A) Teaching conflict resolution classes.
  (B) Teaching crime prevention classes.
  (C) Operating afterschool programs.
  (D) Provide mentoring.
  (E) Patrolling the community that encompasses the school district participating in the Community Policing and Mentoring for School Safety Pilot Program.
  (b) Each school district that receives a grant under this article shall be required to establish a multiagency juvenile justice coordinating council that shall develop and implement a continuum of community-based responses to juvenile crime in the school setting.
  (c) The coordinating councils established pursuant to subdivision (b) shall, at a minimum, include the school district, law enforcement agency, a volunteer police representative, parents, and at least two community organizations. The coordinating councils shall develop a comprehensive, multiagency plan that identifies resources and strategies for providing an effective targeted community policing plan, for activities relating to prevention, intervention, supervision, and treatment of at-risk youths in school settings.

The coordinating council established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 49351 shall accomplish all of the following:
  (a) Complete an identification and prioritization of the schools, and other areas in the community, that face a significant public safety risk from juvenile crime, such as gang activity, daylight burglary, late-night robbery, vandalism, truancy, controlled substance sales, firearm-related violence, and juvenile alcohol use within the council's jurisdiction.
  (b) Develop information and intelligence sharing systems to ensure that school districts actions are fully coordinated with local law enforcement agencies, and to provide data for measuring the success of the grantee in achieving its goals. The plan shall develop goals related to the outcome measures that shall be used to determine the effectiveness of the program, at participating pilot sites.
  (c) Identify outcome measures which shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, each of the following:
  (1) The rate of drug- and alcohol-related offenses.
  (2) The rate of crimes against persons.
  (3) The rate of crimes against property.
  (4) Incidence of students in possession of firearms or other weapons.

(a) The State Department of Education shall award grants under this article to implement the plan developed pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 49350.5 for a two-year period. Funding shall be used to supplement, rather than supplant, existing programs. Grant funds shall be used for programs that are identified in the local action plan as part of a continuum of responses to reduce juvenile crime and delinquency in a school setting. In no case shall the total amount of grant funds for the two-year period exceed two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000).
  (b) (1) No grant shall be awarded unless the applicant does both of the following:
  (A) Makes matching funds available in an amount equal to 50 percent or more of the amount of the grant.
  (B) Demonstrates a commitment by local law enforcement agencies or other participating agencies to contribute matching funds in an amount equal to 50 percent or more of the amount of the grant.
  (2) For purposes of this section, credit towards the matching fund requirement may be granted in an amount equal to the value of an in-kind contribution made on behalf of the school district or on behalf of a law enforcement agency or another participating agency.

The State Department of Education shall establish minimum standards, funding schedules, and procedures for grants, which shall take into consideration, but not necessarily be limited to, all of the following:
  (a) Size of the eligible high-risk youth population.
  (b) Demonstrated ability to administer the program.
  (c) Demonstrated ability to provide and develop a continuum of responses to juvenile crime and delinquency that includes prevention, intervention, diversion, suppression, and incapacitation.
  (d) Demonstrated ability to implement a plan that provides a collaborative and integrated approach to juvenile crime and delinquency in a school setting.
  (e) Demonstrated history of maximizing federal, state, local, and private funding sources.
  (f) Likelihood that the program will continue to operate after state grant funding ends.

The State Department of Education shall create an evaluation design for the Community Policing and Mentoring for School Safety Pilot Program. School districts that receive grants under this article shall use this evaluation design to assess the effectiveness of their programs. These school districts shall transmit their assessments to the department. The department shall develop an interim report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before March 1, 2000, and a final analysis of the grant program in a report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before March 1, 2002.