UCLA police chief reassigned after criticism

LOS ANGELES — The police chief at the University of California, Los Angeles has been reassigned following criticism over his handling of recent demonstrations on campus, which included a crowd attacking a pro-Palestine camp.

Chief John Thomas was temporarily reassigned on Tuesday “pending a review of our security processes,” Mary Osako, vice chancellor for strategic communications at UCLA, said in a statement released Wednesday.

The Daily Bruin reported Tuesday night that Thomas said in a text message to the campus newspaper, “There’s a lot going on, and yesterday I learned that I have been temporarily reassigned from my duties as chief.”

Neither Osako nor Thomas identified their reassigned role.

Thomas’ transfer follows UCLA’s May 5 announcement of the creation of a new chief security officer position to oversee campus security operations.

On April 30, counter-protesters attacked a pro-Palestinian camp, throwing traffic cones, pepper spraying and tearing down barriers. Fighting continued for several hours before police intervened and no one was arrested. At least 15 protesters suffered injuries.

Tomás told Los Angeles Times in early May that he did “everything he could” to provide security and keep students safe during the days of conflict that left UCLA shaken.

But his response was sharply criticized and led Chancellor Gene Block to order a review of campus security procedures. Block then announced that Rick Braziel, former Sacramento police chief, would lead a new Office of Campus Security that would oversee the UCLA Police Department.

“To better protect our community in the future, urgent changes are needed in the way we manage security operations,” Block said in the May 5 statement.

Sporadic outages continued after the dismantling of a pro-Palestine camp and around 200 arrests on April 30.

Block was summoned to Washington by a Republican-led House committee to testify Thursday about the protests on the Los Angeles campus.

The union representing more than 250 officers who police UC’s 10 campuses criticized Thomas’ transfer.

“The UCLA administration recognizes the failure of any protest response and the public should reject its attempts to shift blame to law enforcement,” Wade Stern, president of the Federated University Peace Officers Association, said in a statement Wednesday. fair. “The response to the protests appears ad hoc and lacking the structured planning required by the UC system.”