The number of arrests at city schools plummeted during the first months of the school year in the wake of recent reforms that discouraged arrests for more minor offenses, new data shows.
NYPD officers made fewer than 150 arrests in city schools between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2019 — about half the number of arrests cops made during the same months the previous year. The number of court summonses for schoolkids fell even more dramatically — from 124 in the last quarter of 2018 to 51 in 2019, a drop of 59%.
Advocates cheered the changes, attributing them in part to an agreement struck between the city Education Department and the NYPD last summer that discourages criminal charges for lower-level violations like marijuana possession and disorderly conduct. The number of summonses for each of those categories dropped by about half, the data shows.
“The reduction in the number of arrests and summonses in schools is a welcome change, driven by the work and vision of black and brown young people,” said Kate Terenzi, a lawyer at the Center for Popular Democracy.
Education Department officials said the dramatic drops “are a sign that our new agreement with the NYPD is beginning to take root in our school communities.”
Officials added that “major crimes,” a category that includes seven serious offenses, also dropped 19% compared to last year.
“In an effort to not criminalize students, arrests declined due to an increase in mitigated incidents,” said police spokeswoman Det. Sophia Mason.
The dip in arrests coincided with a big surge in “juvenile reports” — a procedure where no charges are filed but an internal file is kept at a police precinct. Cops wrote up 518 juvenile reports during the opening months of the school year compared to 385 the year before — an increase of 35%.
Kesi Foster, an organizer at Make The Road New York, supports the move away from arrests and summonses, but warned that even offenses classified as juvenile reports can involve handcuffs and long detentions at police precincts.
“For a young person, you can tell them it’s a juvenile report (but) they’re going to know they just got arrested,” he said.
Advocates also noted the stubborn racial disparities in police contact. Black students made up 55% of arrests, despite representing 26% of city students — a similar proportion as last year.
Education Department spokeswoman Miranda Barbot said “we’re on the right track but have work to do, and will continue to invest in restorative approaches that support our students while keeping learning environments safe.”
