This law allows school districts in California to set up their own security or police departments to help protect students, staff, and property. These departments are meant to support, not replace, city or county police. The people running these departments need special training or experience as peace officers. School districts can also use reserve officers to help with security duties. Additionally, the law encourages schools to explore other ways to keep students safe, like mental health support or cultural training, instead of just relying on police presence.

This law states that when people are hired and work as part of a school district's police department, they officially become peace officers. This status allows them to perform their job responsibilities, which are further detailed in another part of the law.

This law is about ensuring the safety of students and staff at public schools by making sure school security officers are properly trained. Every school security officer must complete a specific training course developed by the state in consultation with law enforcement standards. If they carry a gun, there's additional training they must complete. The training must be provided by the school district during regular work hours. These requirements don't apply to security guards from private firms or to officers working part-time until July 2021. School districts must also perform background checks involving fingerprinting and ensure employees are not prohibited from carrying firearms if necessary. The Department of Justice may use national systems for criminal background checks instead of FBI fingerprinting if needed.

If school police officers were first hired by a K-12 public school district in California before July 1, 1999, they need to do two things to keep their jobs. First, they must give their fingerprints to the school district for background checks. Second, they must pass checks ensuring they’re allowed to work in the school district and, if they need to carry a gun, that they’re legally able to have one. Instead of sending fingerprints to the FBI, the Department of Justice can use a specific background check system for firearms.

Money transferred to a school district's general fund can be used to train school police officers. This training includes programs approved by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training and other public safety skills like first aid, rescue, CPR, emergency medical technician training, juvenile procedures, and using specialized safety equipment.

School district security or police employees must have a badge with the district's name, a photo ID with their and the superintendent's signatures, and any other ID that local police require. They may have to wear a uniform specified by the school board, and the district pays for all uniforms, equipment, badges, and ID cards.

This law allows a school district's security or police department to have and use vehicles for their work. When these vehicles are driven by police department members on duty, they are considered emergency vehicles, meaning they can include special equipment and be used like any other emergency vehicle according to the Vehicle Code.

If a school district in California wants its school police department to get surplus military equipment, the school board first has to do a few things: they need to vote on this decision at a public meeting, allow parents and the public to share their views, give a clear explanation of what the equipment will be used for, ensure secure storage for it, and make sure officers are properly trained to use it safely.

This law allows a school district's governing board to hire a private security agency for extra protection when their usual staff can't handle a crisis like war, an epidemic, or a natural disaster. To do this, the board must vote and officially declare there's an emergency, and this decision has to be recorded in the meeting notes.