RISE High…and Officers Shooting into Cars

$10 MILLION TO START A MULTI-LOCATION (AND MOBILE) SCHOOL FOR LA’S MOST VULNERABLE POPULATIONS—HOMELESS AND FOSTER YOUTH

A proposed Los Angeles high school for homeless and foster teens was awarded $10 million in grant money after a nationwide competition.

Out of 692 entries in the XQ Super School Project contest funded by Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs’ widow, ten applicants were selected to receive $10 million to launch and operate barrier-breaking schools.

Contest-winners Kari Croft and Erin Whalen, who developed the RISE high school plan, will open several LA-area RISE campuses to serve up to 500 students at locations shared with established non-profit service providers to ensure kids have the tools they need to complete their academic and life goals. These wraparound services will include medical and mental health care, fitness, meals, legal services, arts, and more. The school aims to eliminate barriers keeping kids from attending school regularly. For example, RISE High will have washers and dryers on campuses, so that students can have clean clothes.

After asking how best to help students—whose living situation is unsteady or far from school—keep on track to graduate, Croft and Whalen decided to create a mobile resource center to transport students to and from class. The bus will serve academic and health needs and provide teens with hygiene products, laptops, cell phone charging stations, and other resources.

Two other schools in California, one in San Diego and one in Oakland, were also among the XQ Super School Project contest-winners. Read more about the contest and the other extraordinary prize-winning school designs.

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LA AREA OFFICERS SHOT INTO VEHICLES 28 TIMES IN FIVE YEARS

Law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County shot into vehicles 28 times between 2010 and 2014, according to an ongoing investigation by KPCC’s Annie Gilbertson and Aaron Mendelson into the practice.

In May, the first investigation revealed that members of LA County Sheriff’s Department shot into moving cars at least nine times (the latest tally is ten times), while LAPD officers shot into vehicles only twice during those five years. The deputies involved justified the shootings by saying that they feared they would be hit by the cars.

Last month, the sheriff’s department brought its policies in line with those of the LAPD and most other LA area police departments, by barring deputies from firing at moving cars except when threatened by a gun or other deadly weapon. A LASD new LASD training video instructs deputies to move out of the way of moving vehicles, explaining that it’s extremely difficult to tell if a driver is attempting to get away or are using their car as a weapon.

Glendale PD and El Monte PD each recorded two such shooting incidents between 2010 and 2014. Fourteen other local and state law enforcement agencies shot into cars one time each during those years.

WLA reported on one such shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old in Studio City by a deputy and a DEA agent in plainclothes. (Read the two-part story of the death of Zac Champommier: here and here.)

Of the law enforcement agencies, KPCC looked into Glendale PD had the most relaxed policy on shooting into vehicles, specifically allowing officers to fire into cars they deem to be weapons. El Monte PD, Long Beach PD, the state parks department, the state corrections department and others have policies similar to that of the LAPD, which does not permit shooting into vehicles perceived to be used as weapons.

Here’s a clip from the KPCC story:

The agencies with multiple shootings, including sheriff’s and police in Los Angeles, El Monte and Glendale, have policies that dictate when and if an officer can fire on vehicle. Among them, the Glendale Police Department’s policy is the most lenient. Glendale’s policy explicitly allows officers to fire on cars they perceive to be weapons. While vehicle shootings are “generally discouraged,” the policy states it “is not intended to restrict an officer’s right to use deadly force directed at the operator of a vehicle.”

In contrast, policies at other agencies in Los Angeles County or that were involved in a shooting in the county — including the LAPD, El Monte PD, Pasadena PD, Long Beach PD, Fullerton PD, the state parks department, and the state corrections department — do not carve out an exception for vehicles perceived to be weapons.

The new policy of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department specifically prohibits deputies from firing upon vehicles perceived as weapons, stating “the moving vehicle itself shall not presumptively constitute a threat that justifies the use of force.” The LAPD uses similar language.

Shootings at moving vehicles are condemned by the U.S. Department of Justice, among others. The tactic is also considered ineffective by experts who argue that even a successful shot at a driver can lead to a car barreling through city streets, while an unsuccessful shot can injure or kill a bystander.

“The argument that the vehicle was being used as a weapon generally doesn’t hold up,” said Dennis Jay Kenney, a criminal justice professor at John Jay College. “If you have time to make the shoot/don’t shoot decision and shoot, then you also undoubtedly had time to get out of the way.”