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 The move follows scrutiny over the Department of Defense's
program, begun in 1991, which gives unused equipment to police
forces across the U.S., including ones that serve school districts.
The Los Angeles School Police Department, which serves the nation's
second-largest school system, would keep 61 rifles and an armored
vehicle built to withstand roadside bombs, the newspaper said.
Reuters could not independently verify the report.
A police sergeant who declined to be named confirmed the department
had the equipment and said it is needed "for the safety of staff,
students, and personnel" but could not confirm what if anything the
department was relinquishing.
The Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, and the grenade
launchers, would only have been used in "very specific
circumstances," he added, without elaborating.
President Barack Obama ordered a review of the program out of
concern at how such equipment had been used during racial unrest in
Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting death of a black teen by
a white policeman last month.
Images of police wielding military-style guns and armor flanked by
armored vehicles as they clashed with protesters helped to fuel a
national debate on policing tactics in the U.S.
Debate has also simmered in part over the extent to which an
increase in armed police and school officials can prevent higher
death tolls in shooting rampages at U.S. schools.
Civil rights and education groups called for an end to the program
supplying school system police in a letter to the Department of
Defense on Monday. The Los Angeles School Police Department assigns
officers to school campuses and they also patrol the surrounding
areas.
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"Adding the presence of military-grade weapons to school climates
that have become increasingly hostile due to their overreliance on
police to handle routine student discipline can only exacerbate
existing tensions," the letter said.
The Pentagon has transferred more than $4 billion of equipment
including armored vehicles, tents, rifles and night- vision goggles
to local and state agencies since 2006.
School districts in Texas, Michigan, Georgia, and other states have
received equipment, U.S. media reported.
Other California schools districts have participated in the program,
gathering supplies ranging from rifles to exercise equipment and
televisions, the Times reported.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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