Pomona Unified To Pull Police Officers From Campuses: Report

POMONA, CA — Police will no longer be stationed at Pomona Unified School District campuses in Diamond Bar and Pomona in the upcoming school year, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported.

The district declined to include funding for school resource officers in its upcoming 2021-’22 budget following monthslong conversations with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and local advocacy groups, the paper reported. The budget is set to be approved during the board of education’s Wednesday meeting.

The groups called on the district to devote more money to on-campus resources such as mental health services for students rather than to law enforcement, according to the Daily Bulletin.

The pandemic and last year’s Black Lives Matter protests across the country prompted district officials to make “impactful changes” for the upcoming school year, Superintendent Richard Martinez told the paper.

“I believe there’s a willingness to be a solution to problems and what we’re seeing is the community wants us to be that without outside entities,” he said. “This is an opportunity to be better.”

Read the Daily Bulletin’s full story on Pomona Unified removing its school resource officers.