Poppy Press

‘Key’ commander in LAPD’s operations on April 30th and May 1st appointed new UCLA Vice Chancellor of Campus and Community Safety.

Chancellor Julio Frenk announced yesterday that former LAPD commander Steve Lurie as new Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus and Community Safety, replacing Rick Braziel effective Feb. 1st.

Lurie spent 27 years with the LAPD, and is leaving his position as assistant commanding officer of West Bureau – the areas surrounding UCLA.

Chancellor Frenk detailed Lurie’s nearly three decades in law enforcement, stating that this appointment aimed to ensure the respect for “the safety, rights and well-being of all Bruins.”

Nevertheless, his statement omitted that Lurie was the LAPD commander that oversaw the LAPD’s response to the Palestine Solidarity protests all of last spring.

Most importantly, Lurie was part of “the key personnel” in charge of LAPD operations on April 30th – the night the Palestine Solidarity Encampment was attacked by a zionist mob – and the May 1st police raid that saw countless flashbangs, rubber bullets, and subsequent injuries.

The UCLA administration has decided to reward violence and welcome it closer than it already was to our campus operations. The creation of the Office of Campus and Community Safety on May 5th was instantly followed by the arrest of 30+ students in a parking lot.

Ever since, Braziel’s office continued to brutalize students, even transforming class buildings into makeshift detention areas on June 10th. It is now the commander that aided this brutality through the LAPD that will be the office head.

Whose ‘safety, rights and well-being’ will this office (soon to be headed by an LAPD commander with a precedent for violence on our campus) really respect?

Review of LAPD’s response to UCLA’s encampment from April 25 to May 7