Community First Coalition Calls On Lawmakers To Remove Police From Schools
HARTFORD, CT (February 22, 2022) — The Community First Coalition, a recently formed coalition of grassroots and youth-led organizations fighting to reimagine public safety without police or policing in our communities, converged on the capital today to urge lawmakers to remove police from schools.
“While the hardening of our school campuses and police presence in and around our schools increases, so do the hardships and inequities that Black and Brown students are forced to carry with them no matter where they go. said Robert Goodrich, Executive Director of RACCE It is time to invest in alternatives to policing in our schools so that our communities can begin the process of fully recovering from the school-to-prison pipeline.”
Organizers from coalition groups Blue Hills Civic Association, CT Black and Brown Student Union, CT Justice Alliance, CT Students for a Dream, City Wide Youth Coalition, Hearing Youth Voices, Middletown Racial Justice Coalition, Radical Advocates for Cross-Cultural Educations, and Racial Justice Coalition called for investment and policies to center community and care in Connecticut’s education system over punitive practices, and for the state’s schools to reduce their reliance on school resource officers and police.
“When a school allows a School Resource Officer to arrest a student or refer a student to law enforcement or juvenile court as a form of discipline they're turning that student over to the juvenile justice system. said Gemini Rorie, CT Justice Alliance Justice Advisor. That makes it that much easier for a student to get a juvenile record, thus reinforcing the school-to-prison pipeline. “
You can view the full event here.
Through the “Care Not Cops” campaign, the Community First Coalition is calling for the following:
Dissolution Bill that would create a process to replace School Resource Officers with School Resource Counselors (SRCs)
Redefine SROs to include security officers and other non-police actors
Accountability and Transparency Legislation for police-led interactions in schools
Decriminalizing Truancy and Chronic Absenteeism
The coalition recently began circulating a petition calling on CT state legislators and municipal leaders to support the demands of the “Care Not Cops” campaign.
The campaign, which is based on the recently proposed Federal Counseling, not Criminalization in Schools Act and state-based research on the impact of SROs in schools from Connecticut Voices for Children, aims to bring attention, awareness, and accuracy to the problem of policing, surveillance, and racist outcomes resulting from police in schools across Connecticut.
For more information, view the Community First Coalitions Legislative leave behind here.
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About The Community First Coalition (CFC)
The CFC is a coalition of grassroots, youth-led, and justice-centered organizations fighting to reimagine public safety without police or policing in our communities.
Community First Coalition Organizations:
Blue Hills Civic Association, Citywide Youth Coalition, CT BBSU, CT Justice Alliance, CT Students for A Dream, Connecticut Voices for Children, Hearing Youth Voices, Middletown Racial Justice Coalition, New Britain Racial Justice Coalition, R.A.C.C.E., Students for Educational Justice,
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