Duval Schools Police Department lambasted by grand jury in statewide safety report

A new statewide grand jury report studying school safety issues lambasted the Duval County School Police Department for "outright fraud" and underreporting incident and crime numbers to make a better impression. Now in response, the school district is launching its own review.

Late Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court website published the third interim report issued by the grand jury — a 27-page document meant to implement and review how well recommendations from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission were being realized. The grand jury was brought to fruition last February following a request from Gov. Ron DeSantis following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting. 

While the interim report largely focused on Florida's mental-health systems and deficiencies in funding, separately, the report pointed out issues with schools' abilities to differentiate criminal behavior from simple misbehavior. Duval School was used as the key example. 

"We have seen overwhelming evidence over the past eleven months that the rosy reports forwarded quarterly to the FDOE by local school districts are wildly inaccurate" the report said, adding that it used a mix of testimonials and additional evidence sourced from students, parents, teachers, law enforcement agencies, social media and local news to develop its findings. 

Out of Florida's 67 counties and 74 school districts when alternative and virtual districts are included, Duval County was the only school district singled out. 

More: Duval Schools updates quarantine protocol 

"It is also apparent, though, that some incentives to 'decrease the statistics' are perverse," the report said. "Administrators are rewarded with promotion or better jobs in larger districts; school police chiefs tout phony 'reductions' in arrests or reports while the actual activity proceeds unabated or accelerates; districts appear 'safer on paper' and thus more attractive to potential new (or even current) students and the funding they represent."

The Times-Union reached out to Duval County Public Schools, the police department and Duval County Schools Police Chief Micheal Edwards  for comment Friday morning.

"The safety and security of students and employees remains the highest priority of the district," a statement from the district said. "The Interim report covers a number of years. During this time the district has made procedural improvements related to student behavioral incident reporting."

"We remain committed to examining current procedures to ensure strict compliance. To assure the School Board and the public, Duval County Schools will pursue an external review of district and school reporting practices to determine if further improvements are needed," the statement concluded. 

The grand jury's report goes on to say that the Duval Schools administration directed Chief Edwards, who in turn directed his officers not to report petty acts of misconduct or misdemeanors to a law enforcement agency. 

The Duval County Public Schools Police Department and Chief Edwards, who was appointed in 2015 answer to the school district and Superintendent Diana Greene, who was named Florida's Superintendent of the Year earlier this month. The school police department is one of less than 20 school district-run police agencies in Florida.

This criticism comes at a delicate time in history, where law enforcement funding and over-policing is facing public scrutiny. Studies show that Black students are more likely than any other student group to face arrest at school and that Black students are more likely than students in any other racial or ethnic group to attend schools with police. 

"This is an intriguing story but also quite frustrating because we have had a whole school-to-prison pipeline when misdemeanor infractions have driven certain types of students out of school and into the criminal justice system," said Gbenga Ajilore, a senior economist at American Progress. Ajilore specializes in and has had several journals published on topics surrounding race and local public finance, peer effects and adolescent behavior and police militarization. 

"The school resource officer (SRO) program began out of the Columbine massacre in 1999," he added. "However, all that did was drive students, particularly students of color into the justice system thereby depriving them of future prospects in the labor market." 

Ajilore added that in his opinion, the report places the focus on "the wrong thing" and could potentially harm BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] students. 

But as noted by the Washington Post, under-policing poses unique risks, too. 

More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed against school systems and law enforcement agencies, claiming the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School could have — and should have — been prevented. The grand jury's role with this report is to highlight shortfalls the commission says could lead to bigger problems down the road. 

"In the case of Duval County, the wrong people are being rewarded," said Professor Henry Smart with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "If you put a carrot out there for administrators to chew on, someone will find a way to circumvent the system for their personal gain.  Instead, reward the students for their good behavior.  At the end of the day, their safety should be of the utmost importance."

The grand jury said Duval County was a "representative (though unfortunately not isolated) example" and noted a PowerPoint training presentation where the school police department said that Chapter 1006 — a policy about zero tolerance for crime and victimization in schools — "did not require the reporting of petty acts of misconduct and misdemeanors to a law enforcement agency," but that's not a correct interpretation of the law.

The report said this training was taken to the next level, with the district police not reporting any misdemeanor crimes. The Times-Union has requested a copy of the PowerPoint presentation being referenced as well as supplemental written directives. 

The report added that written directives, developed by administrators and mandated by the police chief and school administration, considered things like extortion — which is a felony — and stalking to not require reports.

"These are by no means the only examples," the report said. "In some jurisdictions the exceptions have not been content to merely swallow the rule, they have actually weaponized it to their advantage."

Finally, the report said that gang-related incidents were dramatically underrepresented by the Duval County Schools Police Department. 

According to Florida Department of Education training, when School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting incidents occur, schools are required to indicate if the incident is gang-related or not, something the grand jury says Duval County Schools Police failed to represent accurately. 

"Although Duval County School Board Police has an active Gang Liaison detective, and we have seen numerous photos, videos, social media boasts, and testimony regarding widespread gang activity on school premises, from 2016-2020 the District has reported-out of approximately 30,000 [School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting] incidents-a grand total of only six it describes as gang-related," the report said. "It appears to us that this number dramatically underrepresents the level of gang activity in Duval County schools."

The grand jury called the Duval Schools incidents examples of counterproductive behavior. 

"No one is made safer by this chicanery," the report said. "We have heard multiple accounts of students whose criminal behavior goes unreported who — either during their later school years or upon graduation — commit more significant crimes without understanding real-world consequences and reap longer prison terms." 

The report also suggested that the school police department's approach may embolden students who would otherwise refrain from engaging in dangerous behavior. 

"Victims and witnesses suffer in silence rather than report crimes which will be neither investigated nor punished. Even seasoned police officers become demoralized, disillusioned and frustrated," the report said. "Exposure to this circle of absurdity breeds students, teachers and even law enforcement officers who become disenfranchised and abandon the school system altogether in search of a more rational environment. This situation is unacceptable." 

Professor Smart at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice said the report's findings are important and could inform policy, but the solutions have to be intentional. 

"Data is important, but how we use that data is also important.  You should never cook the books because you may leave out important information that can later inform policy.  You could also allow room for continual harm to students that goes unchecked," he said. "That said, we also do not want to get into the trap that NYC landed in with CompStat. The original intent of CompStat was to control crime. The Department used stats to make decisions about staffing and which neighborhoods needed heavier policing. This resulted in brown and Black neighborhoods being 'overpoliced.'  This program gave license to racists actors (i.e., police) to target innocent citizens." 

Smart said possible solutions would need to consider equity, meaning that responses to data collected are applied in a way that avoids disempowering marginalized communities and constant monitoring: which would mean making sure the numbers are accurate and that stakeholders don't stand to gain something from the reporting process. 

To combat the issues it described, the grand jury recommended that school police shouldn't be in a position where it answers to officials or administrators. The report calls for transparency, accountability and for Legislature to remove school districts' ability to define what should be reported to law enforcement. 

The grand jury report's main purpose is to see the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission's recommendations through to avoid another mass tragedy in a school setting. The recommendations are in place to highlight where dots weren't connected and issues are downplayed. 

"The districts have proven either unwilling or incapable of rationally implementing what was no doubt well-intended legislation," the grand jury report said. "It is time to rein in the runaway stagecoach."

School Board Chairwoman Elizabeth Andersen said she welcomes to district's external review. 

"The findings presented are being taken seriously and will be thoroughly reviewed by the Duval School Board," she said Friday. "We are committed to providing a safe educational environment for our children and communities. I appreciate Dr. Greene’s commitment to welcoming an external entity to provide a review and look forward to her recommendations for next steps." 

Emily Bloch is an education reporter for The Florida Times-Union. Follow her on Twitter or email her.