OC HIGH / STUDENT NEWS & VIEWS : Officers Suit Up

Police officers patrolling Los Angeles middle and high schools began wearing uniforms Wednesday in the latest move to deter campus violence. Until now, the 295 Los Angeles Unified School District officers on regular patrol have dressed in suits and ties and concealed their guns. Now they are required to wear blue uniforms similar to those of city police, complete with visible guns and batons.

In Orange County, where there are 15 separate high school districts, security while school is in session varies by district. Newport-Mesa, for example, has plain-clothes security staff at secondary schools; Capistrano and Anaheim do not keep officers on site; Fullerton has uniformed officers from local police departments assigned to high schools through a grant program.