In the aftermath of the campus violence that broke out when counterprotesters attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment as law enforcement lagged, UCLA removed Police Chief John Thomas from his post and reassigned him while the new Office of Campus Safety continues to conduct an examination of the school’s security processes “aimed at enhancing the well-being and safety of our community,” campus officials said Wednesday.

Thomas’ reassignment is temporary, pending that probe’s findings.

The move was made Tuesday, according to a statement from Mary Osako, vice chancellor for strategic communications, weeks after the police agency and some administrators were criticized over their handling of demonstrations on the university’s grounds. Key among the complaints was the slow law enforcement response when violence broke out at the encampment the night of April 30 and continued into the next morning.

The attack started at about 11 p.m., with LAPD officers arriving at 1 a.m. and not breaking up the confrontation until 3 a.m. Several people were injured before police arrived.

The following day, hundreds of California Highway Patrol officers cleared the encampment, ripping apart a barricade of plywood, pallets, metal fences and dumpsters while also dragging away tents and canopies. More than 200 protesters or their supporters were arrested, with classes temporarily shifted to remote learning.

Days later, 44 people were arrested in a campus parking garage. UCLA police said they were carrying materials indicating they were prepared to break into and possibly barricade themselves in a building. Of those arrested, 35 were UCLA students. All except two were arrested for conspiracy to commit a crime, KABC Channel 7 reported.

Thomas had been the department’s chief since January after serving for more than a year as the interim chief. His current assignment was not disclosed.

UCLA police Capt. Gawin Gibson was named interim police chief, Osako said.

Days after the encampment’s removal, Chancellor Gene Block, who also faces criticism for the handling of security, announced the formation of the Office of Campus Safety, led by Associate Vice Chancellor Rick Braziel. That office is to thoroughly investigate the university’s security processes, including the shortfalls that left UCLA students and others to fend for themselves against attackers for hours until law enforcement arrived.

“The well-being of our students, faculty and staff is paramount,” Block has said in a statement. “These actions are essential for creating a secure environment where everyone at UCLA can confidently pursue their studies and careers.”

Matt Barreto, a UCLA professor of political science and Chicano studies, said Tuesday’s news signaled to him and other staff members that Thomas was not the only one to blame for the slow police response.

“It suggests to me that Gene Block is also involved in that poor judgment,” Barreto said. “We want to know exactly why the UCPD could not step in at the first moment and protect the students.”

He said there could be others who were involved in the decision-making process and that a full investigation was important.

“UCPD, in our opinion, was available, they were on campus, they know the campus,” Barreto continued. “When the outside agitator crowd was still small at the beginning, they could have easily gotten involved in a way to deescalate it, and they just stood on the sideline.”

Barreto said he hoped the interim chief would send a message of better relations between police and students.

“Perhaps this is an opportunity to calm things down and deescalate the situation on campus,” Barreto said. “They need to take proactive steps to reach out to students and faculty and let them know that police are here to protect students. So far, that message has been lacking.”

Bharat Venkat, a professor in the university’s life sciences department, said there has been no clarity on where Thomas was reassigned and the move was a “convenient way of putting someone else in the firing line, instead of (Block) accounting for (his) mistakes.”

The day after the violence, Venkat said, there was an “elaborate game of pushing responsibility and blame” for the lack of immediate police response.

Since the violence and subsequent takedown of the pro-Palestinian encampment, Venkat said, there has been heavy security with UCLA police officers everywhere on campus, some following faculty and students around and demanding that they prove who they are.

“My message to the new police chief is: How are any of us meant to do our work here … if we have cops following us around and accusing us of breaking curfew?” Venkat said. “There is a lot of room for improvement, because the bar is pretty low.”

UCLA police officers are sworn peace officers who are armed and possess the same authority under the law as municipal police officers, according to the department’s website. Officers patrol the campus 24 hours a day.

Wade Stern, president of the Federated University Peace Officers Association, which represents the police officers on the UC campuses, said UCLA administrators own “the failure of any protest response, and the public should reject their attempts to shift blame to law enforcement.

“UC guidelines … require a trained senior administrator at UCLA to decide how to respond to protests, guided by an existing plan that had been rehearsed and scenario planned with both UCLA PD and outside law enforcement agencies.

“What unfolded at UCLA calls into question whether UCLA complied with the guidelines to have in place senior administrators trained in crowd-control response, with written plans for response that were the product of scenario training and consultation with its Police Department and outside law enforcement agencies,” he said in the statement addressing Chief Thomas’ reassignment. “The response to protests appears ad hoc and devoid of the structured planning mandated by the UC system.”

Block was scheduled to testify today at a hearing of the House of Representative’s Education and the Workforce Committee, more than a week after the committee’s chairwoman, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., sent a letter to UC leadership asking for all documents, communications and security videos related to alleged antisemitic incidents on campus.