UCLA police chief reassigned after campus unrest – NBC Los Angeles

Three weeks after police cleared a massive pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus and arrested more than 200 people, the university’s police chief was fired and reappointed.

Chief John Thomas confirmed the move late Tuesday in a text message to the campus newspaper, the Daily Bruin. “A lot has happened and I learned late yesterday (Monday) that I will be temporarily relieved of my duties as chief,” Thomas told the newspaper.

It is not yet known what position Thomas has been assigned. He has been campus police chief since January.

In a statement, Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, said Gawin Gibson has been named acting chief. “John Thomas has been temporarily reassigned pending a review of our security processes,” Osako said. “As we said on May 5, UCLA has established a new Office of Campus Safety that will conduct a thorough review of our security processes to improve the well-being and safety of our community.”

UCLA drew national attention in early May when a group of mostly masked counter-protesters launched a violent attack on the pro-Palestinian camp on campus, prompting criticism of the slow police response to the protests.
Attack in which several people were injured.

The following night, hundreds of police officers from various agencies descended on the campus, cleared the camp and arrested 209 people.

The university was forced to close for a day after the unrest and then temporarily switch to remote learning. A few days after the camp was cleared, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block announced that he had appointed Vice Chancellor Rick Braziel to head a newly created Office of Campus Safety, which would report to the Police Department.

Block, who is set to retire at the end of July, is scheduled to testify before a congressional committee on Thursday about the university’s response to anti-Semitism on campus.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee sent a letter last week demanding that the UC system release all communications and documents related to alleged anti-Semitism on campus since October 7, the date of the Hamas attack on Israel.

University of California President Michael Drake said the university system has launched an independent investigation into UCLA’s response to the violence. The UC hired 21st Century Policing Solutions — a police tactics consulting firm — to lead the university system’s investigation into the actions taken at UCLA.

Block, meanwhile, said Braziel is leading a cutting-edge investigation to identify the people who attacked the camp the night before the eviction.

The Federated University Police Officers Association, the union that represents UC police officers, blames the university administration for its failure to respond to the unrest on campus.

Union President Wade Stern reiterated that point Wednesday in response to news of Thomas’ transfer.

“The UCLA administration is responsible for the failure of any response to the protests and the public should reject its attempts to shift blame to law enforcement,” Stern said in a statement. “UC policy … requires that a trained senior administrator at UCLA decide how to respond to the protests. “It will be guided by an existing plan that has been rehearsed and scenarios run through with both the UCLA Police and outside law enforcement agencies.”

“What transpired at UCLA raises questions about whether UCLA complied with policies that require senior administrators to be trained in crowd response and have written response plans in place that are the result of scenario training and consultations with its police department and external law enforcement agencies are.”‘ he said.

Meanwhile, unionized graduate students at UC campuses across the state are threatening ongoing strikes in response to the handling of pro-Palestinian protests. Workers have already gone on strike at UC Santa Cruz, and the union has indicated that walkouts could occur at other campuses as well.

The union and the UC system have exchanged allegations of unfair labor practices. The union is demanding amnesty for staff and students who participated in protests and face disciplinary action and guarantees
Protecting freedom of speech and the right to political expression on campus.

The UC system said strikes based on such demands were illegal because they involved non-work-related issues that fell outside the scope of the union’s collective bargaining agreement.