External report calls on UCLA to develop clear plans, policies for large protests

LOS ANGELES – The University of California, Los Angeles should develop clear plans and policies, lines of communication and decision-making authority ahead of large protests like the large student protests against the war between Israel and Hamas that shook the campus this spring, according to an external report . review.

He report published Thursday by 21st Century Policing Solutions, a national police consulting agency, described a highly chaotic response in late April and early May doomed to failure by the university’s lack of preparation and critical communication failures.

The University of California requested it after UCLA’s controversial handling of the protests. In a statement, UC said consultants examined tens of thousands of documents and interviewed current and former UCLA administrators, faculty, staff, students and law enforcement officials.

“The purpose of the investigation was to develop a detailed set of recommended reforms designed to prevent a repeat of the deficiencies that occurred last spring,” the university system said.

Clashes between protesters and counter-protesters on campus caused more than a dozen injuries, and more than 200 people were arrested at a demonstration the next day after hundreds He defied orders to leave.

Police fired stun grenades to disperse the crowd and tore down a barricade of plywood, pallets, metal fencing and garbage bins at a fortified camp, then tore down canopies and tents.

As events unfolded, UCLA administrators sometimes excluded campus police from key meetings and information, the report states.

Campus police also lacked plans to collaborate with outside authorities, leaving the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol to develop an ad hoc plan without guidance from the officers who knew the campus best.

The report notes that the “central tension” over whether and how police should provide public safety is part of a national conversation UCLA should have with its community.

“Until now, UCLA has responded to this tension ineffectively, functionally excluding police from planning and participation, but then asking law enforcement to intervene once tensions have escalated to violence,” it says. the report.

The university said in a statement that it was committed to campus safety and will continue to implement the recommendations, some of which are underway.