In 2008 alone, 12,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District received truancy tickets. With a number like that, chances are you either know someone or have received one yourself.
Daytime curfew laws, or truancy laws, as students and parents may more commonly know them, do not take any student’s circumstances into account. They have no leniency for late, over-packed Metro buses nor do they care to distinguish the difference between a student walking to the mall and a student walking to school. The mentality behind them is very much a guilty until proven innocent one that allows every single young person on the street to be legally treated as a delinquent between 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
It has been my experience that the police officers who dole out these tickets are as mindless and unfeeling as the laws themselves. There is a fine line between doing one’s job and lording one’s limited amounts of authority over scared minors who haven’t lived long enough to know when to stand up for themselves.
Just last year while running 15 minutes late to first period on an early Tuesday, I was stopped by a pair of Los Angeles Police Department officers while walking up Victory Boulevard from the Orange Line, and handed a daytime curfew ticket. Yes, I was given a ticket on my way to school. Clearly, I’ve missed an important lesson in logic as it totally blew my mind that students could be fined for coming to school.
What’s worse is not only was I so close I could see the entrance to the Victory parking lot gate, but I also had a note from my mother excusing my tardiness to first period. This made no difference to them. While trying to show the officers my note, the woman officer rudely cut me off and ordered me to button my shirt up. Excuse me? For her to imply that I was inappropriately dressed and/or attempting to use my breasts on her partner as a way to get out of the situation made me sick to my stomach when I shouldn’t have been receiving such a ridiculous ticket to begin with.
Even more frustrating was that her partner saw no problem with my note, which made her then cut him off and inform us both that tardiness is no excuse and if I knew I was going to be late I should have had my mother take me to school.
At this point I was in tears because I was so upset at the injustice of the situation (which the woman officer no doubt took as my wily, cunning, 16-year-old way of trying to get pity) that I asked under what fairy-tale world can a parent afford to take time off work to drive their child to school when there’s a perfectly fine alternative transportation system available? To which the officers gave me some ridiculous zero-tolerance answer that I wish I could remember word for word because the small-mindedness of it made me want to laugh.
This then raises the question: how is it fair that this judicial system targets lower income families? In an ideal world, my father would bring home the bacon and my mother would be at home and available to give me a ride to every morning. That way I would never have received a $250 dollar ticket since I would have been out of sight and out of mind of the officers.
The harsh reality is that 40% of LAUSD students are under the Title 1 plan, meaning that for an average family of four, their income level is below $40,793. For most of these parents they cannot afford to take time off work to bring their kids to school, never mind pay off a $250 truancy ticket.  
Yes, courts can argue that if the student chooses, a Saturday class is available to pay off the cost (which is roughly $55 for the class and $35 for the ticket) but what about the hours of work parents lose bringing their child into court? They don’t get compensated for that in the slightest even if the judge rules that their child is innocent. And heaven forbid if parents want to contest the ruling further which would then cost even more time, money, and potentially a lawyer. The way the system is set up, even if a child is innocent, it’s easier to just pay the fine and swallow the injustice.
LAPD officer Todd Holmberg remained adamant that truancy tickets are integral to our justice system, despite their flaws.
“With them [students] being late, it’s not really an excuse. If the kid has a note from their parent how do we believe these notes? Do we have time to call up these parents? No. It depends on the case,” said Officer Holmberg.
Something needs to be done. It is counter intuitive to instill fear into students for coming to school late. So what’s the lesson in all this? If you’re going to be a few minutes late, then it’s better to just miss a day’s curriculum and fall further behind?
“That may be the case but if you run a red light you have to go to court to disprove it. And it may not be efficient but it is what it is,” said Officer Holmberg.
I am not the only one who sees this injustice. There is a group of people called The Community Rights Campaign who have finally had enough. This volunteer group is kicking up the winds of change by collecting student testimonials and actively getting word of the unfairness of the situation out to the public. If you’ve got a story to tell, you can help further the cause by calling The Community Rights Campaign at (213) 387-2800 or visiting their web site www.thestrategycenter.org/node/636
Now don’t get me wrong, I believe the purpose behind day time curfew tickets is good in theory. The LAPD web site www.lapdonline.org cites, “Such laws aim to increase school attendance, enhance a student’s opportunity to receive a quality education, become a more productive member of society, and avoid becoming involved in delinquent behaviors.” What I’m arguing against is the rigidity with which these tickets are distributed. I believe these laws are too vague for overzealous police officers to abuse and have not been administered appropriately. It is not acceptable to equally fine a student walking to school and a student hanging out in front of the Victory Boulevard donut shop.
It seems to me that as more and more budget cuts are made and test scores and graduation rates suffer, it has been the California’s answer to come up with ridiculous, quick-fix policies. There is a deeper problem behind our failing education system and handing out $250 fines is not the answer. Why are students less engaged in what they’re learning nowadays? Surely this affects their motivation to show up to class. Is it a decline in the values of the younger generations or is it the way curriculum is mandated? Why have schools become so test score-oriented while drama programs have fallen by the wayside?