The University of California, Los Angeles should develop clear plans and policies, communication lines and decision-making authority in advance of major protests such as the large student protests against the Israel-Hamas war that shook the campus this spring, according to an outside review.
The report released Thursday by 21st Century Policing Solutions, a national law enforcement consulting agency, described a highly chaotic response in late April and early May doomed by the university's lack of preparedness and critical communication failures.
The University of California requested it after UCLA's controversial handling of the protests.
Clashes between protesters and counterprotesters on the campus led to more than a dozen injuries, and more than 200 people were arrested at a demonstration the next day after hundreds defied orders to leave.
Police fired flash-bangs to break up the crowds and tore apart a fortified encampment's barricade of plywood, pallets, metal fences and dumpsters, then pulled down canopies and tents.
