UCLA Police Chief John Thomas has been faraway from his submit and reassigned, officers mentioned, weeks after he confronted sharp criticism for safety failures that led to violence at a pro-Palestinian encampment.
Rick Braziel, affiliate vice chancellor who heads the newly created Workplace of Campus Security, knowledgeable Thomas this week that he could be reassigned whereas inside and exterior investigations study campus safety shortfalls that left UCLA college students and others concerned within the protest encampment to fend for themselves in opposition to attackers for 3 hours earlier than legislation enforcement moved in to quell the melee.
UCLA Police Captain Gawin Gibson was named interim police chief as of Tuesday, in keeping with Mary Osako, vice chancellor for strategic communications.
She added that UCLA’s Workplace of Campus Security “is main an intensive examination of our safety processes geared toward enhancing the well-being and security of our neighborhood.”
Thomas didn’t return texts and requires remark.
“Given Chief Thomas’ mishandling of holding our neighborhood secure and ear-splitting requires him to step apart, this needed to occur,” mentioned one supply, who was not licensed to talk publicly.
Thomas had misplaced confidence inside UCLA and amongst some outdoors legislation enforcement officers, who’ve criticized what they mentioned was the police chief’s lack of correct planning, coordination and communication in making a campus security plan and securing sufficient officers to hold it out ought to violence happen on the encampment. Each the police chief and Michael Beck, the executive vice chancellor who oversaw the police division and Workplace of Emergency Administration on the time, have confronted calls for his or her resignation. Braziel has taken over each of these models as chief security officer.
After pro-Palestinian supporters put up an encampment in a grassy quad at UCLA, campus management requested Thomas to create a written, detailed security plan laying out actions for numerous situations — from rallies to skirmishes to full-blown violence — however didn’t obtain one, three sources instructed The Instances. The police chief was instructed to make use of no matter time beyond regulation pay was wanted to safe assist from exterior legislation enforcement, However Thomas mentioned a paperwork logjam between town and state prevented him from finishing any contracts earlier than the encampment was attacked on the night time of April 30.
Thomas, in an earlier interview with The Instances, defended his actions and mentioned he did one of the best he might.
The shake-up on the UCLA police division comes after greater than three tense weeks on campus because the violent mob assault.
Thomas was appointed police chief in January and had served as interim chief since 2022. He got here to UCLA from USC in 2022 as interim police chief. At USC, he had been the Dept. of Public Security govt and chief since 2013. He labored as an assistant chief and police captain at USC after arriving on campus in 2009 from the LAPD, the place he was a lieutenant. He additionally beforehand served within the Washington, D.C. police division.
The choice on police management happened a day earlier than UCLA Chancellor Gene Block is scheduled to testify in Washington, D.C. at a Home training committee listening to on antisemitism alongside the presidents of Rutgers and Northwestern universities. The committee is predicted to aggressively grill Block concerning the April 30 violence on the UCLA encampment and accusations of antisemitism throughout pro-Palestinian protests.
Earlier congressional hearings have featured the presidents of Harvard, the College of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Know-how and Columbia College
College of California President Michael V. Drake has launched an exterior investigation into the safety , which Block says he welcomes as he initiates his personal assessment.
