SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City’s Commission on Racial Equity in Policing has released more recommendations to improve relations between the city’s residents of color and law enforcement. This time the focus is on schools.
Members of the commission shared a long list of ideas at the City Council’s Tuesday work session to improve the city’s role in helping kids perform better in school and stay out of the juvenile justice system. Among them, creating safer spaces for at-risk youth to bond with counselors, providing consistent funding for youth programs, hiring city staff to monitor equity in education and continuing efforts to reduce officer citations issued to students of color.
On the latter point, commission member Moises Prospero offered some praise. The most recent data shared by Salt Lake City police showed student resource officers — the police officers who work in schools — issued 65 citations during the 2019-2020 school year, down from 488 citations in 2013-2014.
“That’s awesome. Basically elementary [school] citations are becoming extinct,” Prospero said.
Click here to read the full story from The Salt Lake Tribune.
