When authorities launched the primary of many flash-bang-style units early on the morning of Might 2, it shattered the relative calm of UCLA’s pro-Palestinian encampment and drove a stream of protesters operating towards makeshift barricades that blocked the exits.
Two college students mentioned they witnessed a pupil protester standing close to Powell Library try to maneuver a metallic barrier to accommodate the folks fleeing. As an alternative, he was met with pressure by members of Apex Safety Group, based on the witnesses, who have been interviewed collectively and requested anonymity in worry of retaliation by the college or regulation enforcement.
“Members of the safety group began attacking him. I believe it was round 5 to seven of the safety guards,” one of many college students mentioned. “Two or three of them have been making an attempt to hit him on the pinnacle, and the others have been making an attempt to restrain him.”
The protester broke free from the personal safety guards and fled. Inside minutes, a deep bruise materialized on the younger man’s face the place one of many guards had punched him, the second pupil witness mentioned. The coed who was allegedly hit was not recognized and couldn’t be reached for remark.
“It was actually unwarranted. He simply, like, moved again a bit bit after which they attacked,” the second witness mentioned. “It was a extremely scary feeling. I’d by no means seen somebody get beat up like that in individual earlier than.”
The incident was the primary of no less than two that witnesses mentioned concerned Apex Safety Group guards appearing aggressively at UCLA in latest weeks. Witnesses who spoke with The Instances accused the guards of assaulting and accosting demonstrators who posed no risk and leaving the scene at a key second on Might 1, as counterprotesters escalated violence that left no less than 30 folks injured.
Apex and its dad or mum firm, the Northridge-based safety big Modern Providers Company, didn’t reply to requests for remark. Apex’s web site says it employs “off-duty and retired regulation enforcement officers who present supplemental companies for shoppers that require assist above and past customary occasion safety and crowd administration companies.”
Employed guards are more and more ubiquitous in school protests, with Apex and CSC contracted for safety on campuses from Los Angeles to New York. The guards carry out crowd management and most of the duties historically carried out by law enforcement officials, and might carry weapons if correctly licensed. They’ll detain folks, however usually as personal residents, not sworn regulation enforcement, which implies they get pleasure from fewer of the authorized protections afforded police. Entry-level personal safety guards — who in lots of circumstances obtain only a few days of coaching — are sometimes directed by those that rent them to make use of pressure solely as a final resort.
It’s unclear what directions Apex had from UCLA.
Safety guards with Apex Safety Group and Modern Providers Company stand by at UCLA as pro-Palestinian activists exhibit in entrance of Dodd Corridor on Might 6.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Instances)
Ryan King, a spokesman for the workplace of the College of California’s president, Michael V. Drake, mentioned in an electronic mail that Drake introduced on Might 7 “an unbiased investigation” into what led to the violence on April 30. The college didn’t reply on to questions on its relationships with Apex and CSC or the incidents with the companies on campus.
“The College awaits the findings of that investigation,” King mentioned. He added that the ten UC campuses every have their very own police departments “which have management and jurisdiction on their respective campuses and should request native regulation enforcement assist or contract for added safety help as obligatory. Every campus coordinates their response to circumstances on the bottom with their respective management.”
Some protesters at UCLA and past have questioned why universities and regulation enforcement businesses more and more depend on personal safety companies when cracking down on overwhelmingly nonviolent protests.
However contracting with safety corporations is “a typical and cheap follow,” based on Rick Santoro, a New Jersey-based safety knowledgeable with greater than 30 years of expertise.
“Sometimes, public regulation enforcement businesses don’t have the sources to supply safety companies on a long-term foundation in conditions comparable to labor actions [and] civil unrest,” he mentioned through electronic mail. “It’s sensible and obligatory in lots of circumstances for faculties and universities to make use of personal safety contractors both solely or to complement” police in such conditions.
At UCLA, whereas Apex guards have been accused of getting bodily with some college students on Might 2, they have been additionally filmed standing by the earlier night time as some pro-Israel protesters tore down barricades and incited violence.
The Apex guards, who appeared to have been unarmed, have been introduced in on the behest of former UCLA Police Chief John Thomas, who was eliminated from the submit this week as he confronted withering criticism over his dealing with of the protests.
College leaders had repeatedly directed Thomas to create a security plan, three sources informed the Los Angeles Instances this month. He was informed, the sources mentioned, to spend no matter was obligatory to take care of peace and order. Thomas developed a plan, the sources mentioned, to deploy personal safety who wouldn’t be approved to arrest anybody and who have been informed to contact the UCLA police if the state of affairs on the bottom escalated. Whether or not Apex personnel acquired instructions to depart the scene within the occasion of violence stays unknown.
However a bunch of Apex safety guards posted on the perimeter of the encampment in the end left with out intervening, based on witnesses and video from the scene. Mayhem ensued, with clashes between the opposing teams of protesters lasting till police in riot gear arrived greater than two hours later.
Apex Safety Group guards stand by as protesters conflict on the UCLA campus the day earlier than the pro-Palestinian encampment was dismantled.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Instances)
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Allegations of bodily altercations between Apex personnel and pupil protesters didn’t cease with the dismantling of the camp.
On Might 15, a 2023 UCLA graduate returned to the campus to take part in a pro-Palestine demonstration. The alum, who makes use of the pronouns “they” and “her,” mentioned they’d scrawled messages together with “Free Palestine” and “How many individuals did you kill right now?” in chalk on sidewalks and faculty buildings because the marchers made their method throughout the Westwood campus.
Because the procession wound down close to the college’s Shapiro Fountain, about 10 Apex guards gathered across the 5-foot-tall protester, who requested to stay nameless, citing issues about retaliation by regulation enforcement.
Three males sporting black windbreakers with APEX SECURITY GROUP emblazoned in white letters throughout the again and lightweight khaki pants could be seen grabbing them by the arms in movies of the incident reviewed by The Instances. A number of CSC guards are seen within the background of one of many movies.
“Allow them to go. You’re not a f—ing cop,” an onlooker yelled at one of many Apex guards. “What are you doing to them? Why are you grabbing them?”
The alum was launched moments later as a guard took their tote bag and opened it up on a close-by ledge.
“Give me again my bag you f—ing pig,” they yelled because the guard rifled by way of the bag’s contents earlier than pulling out a crimson pen and holding it up within the air.
“Come right here, Miss, right here’s your bag again. I’ve her marker that you simply graffitied with. Right here you go,” the guard mentioned loudly. The alum yelled again that it was a pen, not a marker. “Maintain on. So she graffitied, so all people is aware of. And you’ll’t graffiti. Right here you go. Right here’s your bag again.”
The alum maintained they have been drawing in chalk, not making graffiti.
Apex didn’t reply to questions concerning the incident.
There have been different latest situations of protesters accusing the corporate of harsh ways. In January, Apex despatched dozens of guards to Berkeley, the place they assisted within the clearing of tents and makeshift properties erected in Folks’s Park a number of blocks from UC Berkeley in an try to dam the redevelopment of the landmark website.
Columbia College used the agency as a part of its controversial response to a pro-Palestinian protest motion final month.
“One safety guard mentioned the college’s contractor, Apex Safety Group Inc., was recruiting extra staff for its 7 p.m.-to-7 a.m. shift at a price of $240 a day,” the New York Put up reported.
The corporate has branches in additional than a dozen cities and commonly works high-profile gigs, together with Tremendous Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, L.A. Rams and Chargers video games, and different main occasions.
Apex’s dad or mum firm, CSC, was based in 1967 by Damon Zumwalt, then a pupil athlete at UCLA. Not like the off-duty and retired officers employed by Apex, the bigger agency recruits safety guards who’ve various backgrounds, utilizing a screening course of that’s much less stringent in contrast with regulation enforcement businesses.
California requires a number of dozen hours of coaching to change into a licensed safety guard. Many police departments, together with the LAPD, require officers to finish a six-month stint in a police academy, adopted by further months of area coaching.
Because of this, there’s an enormous pay hole between low-end personal safety personnel and sworn regulation enforcement officers. Most safety guards make little greater than minimal wage versus nicely over $100,000 a 12 months plus authorities advantages for knowledgeable cops.
It’s cheaper for a college to usher in minimally skilled personal safety guards when wanted than to rent everlasting, full-time law enforcement officials, however “you get what you pay for,” based on Norman D. Bates, a safety knowledgeable, lawyer and founding father of the Massachusetts-based safety consulting agency Legal responsibility Consultants.
“The draw back is lack of coaching, lack of expertise,” he mentioned. “The last word result’s persons are victimized, and so they find yourself suing.”
Modern Providers Company guards patrol UCLA.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Instances)
Regulation enforcement veterans like these Apex hires are usually extra calm and environment friendly in high-stress conditions than their civilian counterparts, based on James F. Pastor, an lawyer who runs a safety consulting agency in Florida.
Many who contract with the corporate are searching for a better stage of service and capability than a extra all-purpose agency like CSC can present. However there could be a flip facet to years of expertise, mentioned Pastor, a former Chicago police officer.
“There’s loads of good safety officers on the market that may handle folks, which have expertise in de-escalation strategies and communication strategies and simply frankly utilizing a stage of professionalism to get the job achieved with out getting too bodily,” he mentioned, however “there’s loads of cops who lose that potential both by way of frustration or burnout through the years.”
Public universities in California have paid thousands and thousands to CSC lately. In 2023 alone, UC San Francisco paid the agency greater than $3.5 million, whereas UCLA paid the corporate practically $185,000, based on California state spending information compiled by openthebooks.com, a challenge of the nonprofit open authorities group American Transparency.
Since 2017, based on the spending information, a number of different state universities and faculties have additionally employed CSC, whereas no different state company has.
In California between 2021 and 2023, the information present, lower than $330,000 of state funds have been paid on to Apex Safety Group, all by Cal State East Bay and San Francisco State. It’s unclear whether or not funds made to CSC can cowl companies rendered by Apex.
King, of the UC president’s workplace, mentioned through electronic mail that details about how a lot cash UCLA and different UCs have paid Apex and CSC and what contracts they’ve with the safety companies was not “instantly out there.”
Even with incidents like these alleged at UCLA, personal guards are right here to remain at live shows, sporting occasions and on faculty campuses.
“What I see now’s a driving in direction of personal safety,” Pastor mentioned. “I believe post-George Floyd, the truth is police are having a way more troublesome time recruiting and holding skilled law enforcement officials. So I believe that tide is popping the place they’re seeing the worth of getting a personal safety officer subsequent to them.”
