UCLA creates campus safety role amid condemnation of response to mob attack

Police officers in riot gear on campus at UCLA last week. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/AFP/Getty Images

The University of California, Los Angeles said that it would create a new office dedicated to campus safety following mounting criticism of authorities’ slow response to a brutal attack on pro-Palestinian protesters by a mob of “instigators”.

The school’s chancellor, Gene Block, said on Sunday that urgent changes were needed to “better protect our community moving forward”, and announced that a new office of campus safety would oversee the university police department and the UCLA office of emergency management, “effective immediately”.

“It is clear that UCLA needs a unit and leader whose sole responsibility is campus safety to guide us through tense times,” Block said in a statement.

UCLA has been rocked by major demonstrations and violence in recent weeks as protests have unfolded at universities across the US in some of the largest such actions since the Vietnam war. Protesters established a Palestinian solidarity encampment in the center of campus last month.

Last weekend the university saw clashes after thousands of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators gathered at UCLA. Days later, a masked group of people marched on campus and assaulted pro-Palestinian demonstrators as law enforcement and campus security watched on. The violence shook students and prompted the university to cancel classes on Wednesday. Police dismantled the pro-Palestinian encampment shortly after and arrested hundreds of people.

Police and the university had faced condemnation for their response to the violent attack on demonstrators, including from the California governor, who called it “unacceptable”. The UCLA police chief rejected the criticism, telling the Los Angeles Times he did everything he could, while a union for UC police departments said the blame fell on administrators.

Block announced that Rick Braziel, who previously worked as the police chief in Sacramento, would lead the new office at UCLA. Braziel has served on teams reviewing law enforcement responses in high-profile incidents, including in the Uvalde school shooting in Texas.

An advisory group with members that include law enforcement, a professor and a UC official in charge of community safety will “partner” with Braziel, according to Block’s statement. UCLA and the UC office of the president will investigate the campus’s security processes.

“These actions are essential for creating a secure environment where everyone at UCLA can confidently pursue their studies and careers,” Block said.

Although the encampment at UCLA has been dismantled, unrest continues. Police detained dozens of people at a university parking garage on Monday morning. The campus police department told the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s student newspaper, that officers arrested 43 people on charges of conspiracy to commit burglary. Journalists and legal observers were reportedly among those arrested. Pro-Palestinian students held a demonstration and sit-in on campus later Monday.

UCLA’s office of emergency management sent an alert out on social media at about 4pm, saying that “due to ongoing disruption” all classes would be held remotely through 10 May. Royce Hall and Powell Library will be closed through 10 May as well, and students and staff were advised to avoid the area.