Orange County schools move to cut number of student arrests

Orange County schools are trying to keep more students in class and out of court by encouraging civil citations in lieu of arrests for minor offenses, district leaders said Friday.

The district announced an agreement with law enforcement agencies that, among other things, urges civil citations for non-violent offenses, which allows students to avoid criminal records. Use of civil citations has been “very spotty,” in the past but that’s changing, Superintendent Barbara Jenkins said during a news conference at Westpointe Elementary School, one of six new campuses when Orange opens classes Monday.

“Rather than arresting children, we are using civil citations in the law enforcement community in much larger numbers than have previously been doing in Central Florida,” she said.

Orange County issued civil citations to 48 percent of the youths who were eligible during the 2016-17 fiscal year, compared with 54 percent statewide, according to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. Issuing civil citations, rather than making arrests, helps keep students in class, Jenkins said, and students who enter the criminal justice system are less likely to finish school.

The agreement, signed last year, also says administrators and school resource officers should discuss petty misconduct and non-violent misdemeanors on their campuses, and if they agree, the school should handle the matter. Jenkins also said law enforcement agencies have agreed not to arrest students on campus for crimes that occur off campus.

Orange schools reported 6.4 arrests per 1,000 students during the 2015-16 school year, according to data from the Department of Juvenile Justice. Compared with the state’s other urban counties, Orange had fewer arrests per student than Hillsborough and Pinellas, but more than Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Duval.

The district has already begun issuing civil citations instead of making arrests and had a 30 percent decrease of in-school arrests last year, said Bryan Holmes, chief of the Orange County Public Schools police department.