Within the continued fallout over the legislation enforcement response to Gaza conflict protests at USC, a vocal group of activists Tuesday demanded the removing of Los Angeles Police Fee President Erroll Southers, a senior safety official on the college.
The group gathered for a information convention earlier than the fee’s weekly assembly at Los Angeles Police Division headquarters, calling on Mayor Karen Bass to take away Southers from the civilian physique charged with oversight of the division.
Jody Armour, a USC legislation professor who focuses on racial justice, referred to as the choice to ship scores of riot-gear-clad LAPD officers and USC campus police to supervise the dismantling of an encampment “the very antithesis of what we are saying we’re as a college.”
Almost three dozen legislation professors from the college signed a letter condemning the police response to protests.
As USC’s affiliate senior vice chairman of security and danger assurance, Southers is liable for overseeing a number of workplaces, together with the division of public security, based on the college’s web site.
It’s unclear what his position might have been in making selections concerning the protest encampments at USC, however critics imagine he was concerned in coordinating the legislation enforcement response.
In response to questions despatched to Southers by The Occasions, a USC spokesperson mentioned in an announcement that the college is “exceedingly lucky to profit from the unparalleled expertise and experience of Dr. Southers.”
“He’s an internationally acknowledged safety knowledgeable and scholar. We worth having his management at our college,” the assertion learn.
Southers later declined to remark by way of a spokesperson.
In legislation enforcement circles, Southers has constructed a popularity as a number one knowledgeable in combating terrorism, testifying earlier than congressional committees and lecturing at universities world wide. He has additionally taught courses as a professor of nationwide and homeland safety.
Some critics linked Southers’ educational analysis on homegrown extremism to the aggressive clearing of the campus encampments. Melina Abdullah, a Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles chief and professor at Cal State L.A., alleged Southers’ teachings had been getting used to justify the criminalization of Black and Muslim youths. Underneath this framework, they mentioned, benign conduct akin to somebody expressing views important of the federal government may very well be interpreted as harmful.
“Erroll Southers has received to go,” mentioned Baba Akili, additionally of Black Lives Matter-L.A. “As a result of to maintain him in place is permission, is acquiescence, is acceptance of which is occurring in Palestine, and what’s taking place in Palestine is genocide.”
One other speaker, who recognized themselves as a USC scholar however saved their face lined and didn’t give a reputation saying they feared consideration from legislation enforcement, was important of a group advisory board began on campus by Southers, which they mentioned excluded viewpoints that had been important of legislation enforcement.
Others pointed to the potential battle of curiosity in Southers working in his campus position with a police drive that he’s charged with overseeing.
The calls for for Southers’ ouster continued through the public remark portion of the L.A. Police Fee assembly. As a few of his critics spoke, Southers not often seemed up from his seat. After admonishing somebody within the viewers for disrupting the assembly, Southers ordered a quick recess so the room may very well be cleared; he and his fellow commissioners filed out of the assembly to jeers and cries of “disgrace on you” from the viewers.
Southers, a former FBI agent and onetime nominee for Transportation Safety Administration administrator by former President Obama, was elected fee president by his colleagues just a few months after his 2023 appointment to the five-member physique. The transfer was praised on the time by metropolis and police leaders, who cited his deep data of policing, however drew opposition in some circles over Southers’ involvement with a controversial federal counterterrorism initiative, which critics have mentioned unfairly focused Muslim communities.
Southers second-guessed some features of the initiative in a 2017 Occasions op-ed. “Too typically, federal workers searching for to deal with violent extremism parachute right into a group and dictate public security priorities to residents,” he mentioned.
Southers is the newest public official to face scrutiny after weeks of protests at USC and universities across the nation, with leaders struggling to steadiness campus security and the appropriate to protest, whereas on the similar time addressing antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred.
At USC, police have twice moved in to dismantle an encampment that sprung up in Alumni Park, with the newest sweep occurring as commencement actions are set to kick off this week with tens of hundreds of company on campus.
Los Angeles police arrested 93 activists — most of them USC college students — on suspicion of trespassing as they cleared the encampment April 24.
In one of the violent episodes elsewhere final week, a mob attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA, leading to quite a few accidents. Police arrested greater than 200 folks after transferring onto the Westwood campus to push out protesters.
Requested concerning the division’s response at Tuesday’s fee assembly, interim LAPD Chief Dominic Choi mentioned the division was nonetheless working to assemble a timeline of the occasions the night time of April 23. However based mostly on preliminary data, he mentioned the primary name for help from college officers got here round 11:30 p.m. Choi mentioned that an LAPD squad from the West L.A. Division arrived on campus shortly afterward, however that it took “time to coordinate” a broader legislation enforcement response given the involvement of different companies.
However he dismissed experiences of widespread police use of drive in opposition to protesters, saying LAPD officers didn’t hearth any “less-lethal” rounds on UCLA’s campus and fired one 40-millimeter projectile at USC that missed its goal.
“These are additionally effectively documented. I stand by these statements,” he mentioned.
A number of Metropolis Council members this week launched a movement asking Choi to supply an after-action report on the division’s actions main as much as and through the protests, “together with disclosure and reporting of when the schools referred to as on LAPD to intervene.” The movement additionally seeks “suggestions for any classes realized and/or protocol adjustments for enchancment in division coverage.”
Occasions workers writers Kevin Rector and David Zahniser contributed to this report.
