post protests, UCLA creates high-level post to oversee campus safety - bringing in the guy who reviewed Uvalde shooting [View all]

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

UCLA has moved swiftly to create a new chief safety officer position to oversee campus security operations, including the campus Police Department, in the wake of what have been called serious lapses in handling protests that culminated in a mob attack on a pro-Palestinian student encampment last week.

Chancellor Gene Block announced Sunday that Rick Braziel, a former Sacramento police chief who has reviewed law enforcement responses in high-profile cases across the country, will serve as associate vice chancellor of a new Office of Campus Safety. He will oversee the Police Department — including Police Chief John Thomas, who is facing calls to step aside — and the Office of Emergency Management.

Braziel previously was tapped to review police actions in the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting; riots in Ferguson, Mo.; the shootout with police killer Christopher Dorner; and other cases. He will report directly to Block in a unit that will focus solely on campus safety — an arrangement that has proved effective at major universities across the country, the chancellor said. Previously, the campus police chief and the Office of Emergency Management reported to Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck.

Block also announced a new advisory group to partner with Braziel. Members include UC Davis Police Chief Joseph Farrow, the respected chair of the UC Council of Police Chiefs; Vickie Mays, UCLA professor of psychology and health policy and management; and Jody Stiger, UC systemwide director of community safety.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-05/ucla-creates-high-level-post-to-oversee-campus-safety-after-security-lapses-in-mob-attack