LAUSD police chief resigns following school board vote to cut $25 million from his agency

Todd Chamberlain, the retired LAPD commander who took the helm of the Los Angeles School Police Department just seven months ago, resigned effective immediately Wednesday, a day after the district’s board voted to slash his department’s budget by $25 million.

In a statement, Chamberlain attributed his decision to step down as police chief to the board’s drastic cuts.

“After humbly serving my communities, departments and personnel over 35 years in Law-Enforcement, I have been placed in a position that makes my ability to effectively, professionally and safely impact those groups unachievable,” he said. “In good conscience, and in fear for safety and well-being of those I serve, I cannot support modifications to my position, the organization and, most importantly, the community (students, staff and families) that I believe will be detrimental and potentially life-threatening.”

A Los Angeles Unified School District spokesperson confirmed the resignation and stated “more information on the department leadership transition will be forthcoming.”

She was unable to provide additional information about the resignation.

LAUSD’s Board of Education voted 4-3 Tuesday to take $25 million — or roughly 35 percent — from the department’s budget and put it into alternative programs, including the hiring of safety aides and social workers, that would benefit African American students. The cut would mean the loss of roughly 65 officers and the department’s overtime budget, along with other reduced services, officials said.

The motion approved by board members will remove officers from campuses and take them out of their uniforms until the board hears back from a task force on policing formed by Superintendent Austin Beutner.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Chamberlain urged the board to reconsider the cuts, as he believed the reductions would leave the department only able to provide a “bare minimum” of services.

Chamberlain said the department would have a ratio of one officer for every 3,450 students. LAUSD’s high schools would only have one officer in place and staff could only work from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Night-time patrols that protect the buildings from break-ins and vandalism — incidents which have been on the rise during the pandemic — would be limited. After-school programs designed to intervene before a crime occurs would also go away, he warned.

“What you’re going to have is law enforcement personnel posted outside managing the best they can to maintain order,” he said. “But as far as the intervention/prevention component, I can attest, based on my experiences, that is not going to be a functioning part of this organization again.”

Board member Monica Garcia, who originally pushed for a 50 percent cut to the department, thanked Chamberlain for his comments and acknowledged that the department may have issues in its current form, but that part of the goal of Beutner’s task force on policing is to rethink how the department operates.

“This is exactly why I am hopeful that the superintendent’s task force will define safety in a way that puts race and class first,” she said.

Chamberlain took charge of the department in December 2019. He previously retired as a commander with the Los Angeles Police Department and has served in law enforcement for more than 33 years.

As one of the largest independent school police departments in the nation, the LASPD employs 366 sworn officers and 95 non-sworn officers with a budget of roughly $70 million.

United Teachers Los Angeles praised the cuts in a press release Wednesday. Union officials said years of research showed that the presence of school police “lowers graduation rates, does not make schools safer and negatively impacts students learning.”

“The school board’s action is a huge first step in the campaign for police-free schools and ground-breaking in terms of our movement for supporting Black lives in our schools,” said UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz. “It was the power and passion in the streets across L.A. and this country, uplifting the voices of Black students, educators and families that made this happen. We can’t let up. We must keep fighting for our babies and our students.”