UCLA police chief temporarily reassigned over handling of anti-Israel protest
Response by Chief John Thomas roundly criticized, despite his claim he did all he could to keep students safe; new role not announced

LOS ANGELES, California — The police chief at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been reassigned, following criticism over his handling of recent campus demonstrations that included a mob attacking a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel encampment.
Chief John Thomas was temporarily reassigned Tuesday, “pending an examination of our security processes,” said Mary Osako, UCLA vice chancellor for strategic communications, in a statement released Wednesday.
The Daily Bruin reported late Tuesday that Thomas said in a text to the campus newspaper, “There’s been a lot going on and, I learned late yesterday that I’m temporarily reassigned from my duties as chief.”
Neither Osako nor Thomas identified his reassigned role.
The reassignment of Thomas follows UCLA’s May 5 announcement of the creation of a new chief safety officer position to oversee campus security operations.
Thomas told the Los Angeles Times in early May that he did “everything I could” to provide security and keep students safe during days of strife that left UCLA shaken.

But his response was roundly criticized and prompted Chancellor Gene Block to order a review of campus security procedures. Block then announced that Rick Braziel, a former Sacramento police chief, would lead a new Office of Campus Safety that will oversee the UCLA Police Department.
“To best protect our community moving forward, urgent changes are needed in how we administer safety operations,” Block said in the May 5 statement.
Sporadic disruptions continued, following the dismantling of a pro-Israel and anti-Israel encampment and some 200 arrests on April 30.
Block has been summoned to Washington by a Republican-led House committee to testify Thursday about the protests on the Los Angeles campus.
The nationwide campus protests began at Columbia in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza. War erupted on October 7 when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a massive cross-border attack on Israel that killed close to 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 252 people, including multiple bodies.
Vowing to stamp out Hamas and topple its regime in Gaza, Israel launched a military campaign that also aims to free the hostages, of whom 124 remain in captivity, not all of them alive.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 35,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though only some 24,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals. The tolls, which cannot be verified, include some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle.
Two hundred and eighty-six Israeli soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and during operations along the Gaza border. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip.