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Why Were Police So Slow Responding To Violence At UCLA?

Nearly two weeks after a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California Los Angeles, was attacked by counterprotesters, university officials have not explained why security officers stood by for hours while the attack was underway, nor have the authorities arrested any of those who swarmed in wielding metal rods, water bottles and firecrackers in one of the worst outbreaks of violence in recent college protests, the New York Times reports. The extent of the policing failure has become clearer as witnesses have come forward to describe a chaotic night of violence on April 30, in which students and bystanders repeatedly called 911 and nonemergency lines, finding little help and having calls disconnected. A dispatcher told one caller pleading for help that they were ending the call because “I have actual emergencies to handle.” One man was filmed by a local television station on the phone with emergency dispatchers, alerting them that people were getting hurt. “Security has abandoned this encampment,” he could be heard saying before a dispatcher hung up on him.


In Sacramento, staff members in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office contacted the UCLA chancellor’s office after 11 p.m. to make sure that law enforcement officers were responding to the scene, and were assured that more officers were coming. As the night wore on and there was still no intervention, the governor’s office ordered California Highway Patrol officers to the campus. The state officers began assembling on campus at 1:45 a.m., a few moments before Los Angeles riot police arrived, but it took another hour to quell the clashes. The chancellor’s office, the Los Angeles police department and an outside consultant hired to investigate the tardy response have all declined to discuss it, pending an inquiry that could take weeks or months. The Times interviewed people who were at the protests that night, including two involved in the counterprotest; analyzed video footage; and spoke with organizations involved in both the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli movements on campus. The review found no public callouts for such a violent attack and no clear signs that one group coordinated it, though some people arrived wearing black clothes and masks, seemingly prepared for violence. There was no indication that the police had prepared for the kind of severe assault on the encampment that took place.

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