Calls to Police from New Jersey Schools Are Not Rare

Fourteen hundred arrests were made at New Jersey schools in the 2017-18 school year, according to the Department of Education and reported by NJSpotlight.com. Over 7,200 incidents at New Jersey schools involved police intervention.

The types of activities reported by the DOE include violence, bullying/intimidation, vandalism, weapons, and substance abuse. The DOE report also tracked suspensions, although a strict cause and effect relationship can’t be established because districts have varying levels of rules and their strictness. More than 150,000 days of instruction in the state were lost due to suspensions in 2017-18 with an average of 833 public school students suspended on an average day.

Elizabeth had the most lost days, followed by Vineland.

Over 20,000 incidents of bullying/harassment/intimidation were investigated by New Jersey schools with 8,600 of those found to be valid. If you want to see how many incidents your school had, NJSpotlight.com has a searchable database here.