This post was updated July 21 at 8:34 p.m.

Documents obtained by the Daily Bruin showed how police contracts were used by UCPD for policing on campus.

UCLA has seen frequent police activity from April to June sparked by the April 30 attacks on the Palestine solidarity encampment and its subsequent police sweep. The UCLA Police Department used assistance – known as mutual aid – from police agencies across Los Angeles as well as UCPD agreements from other UC campuses.

A mutual aid agreement from 2022 signed by then-Culver City Police Department Chief Manuel Cid and then-UCPD Chief Tony Lee revealed that the two police departments have an agreement to supply public safety resources to each other in the event of local emergencies, civil disturbance and other occasions that may arise.

According to the contract, the two police departments entered into the agreement under the desire to coordinate maximum public safety, and the mutual aid relationship can only be called upon “to prevent, combat, or eliminate a probable or imminent threat to life or property.”

The period between April 28 and May 3 saw responses on campus from the Beverly Hills Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, the Culver City Police Department, LAPD, the Santa Monica Police Department and UCPD.

CCPD had at least 17 personnel at UCLA between April 28 and May 2, including officers, sergeants and one lieutenant. Records obtained by the Daily Bruin stated that the officers and sergeants were paid between $67.51 an hour to $145.88 an hour, totaling $12,997.47 paid to all personnel present over the five days.

CCPD received the $12,997.47 in accordance with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and Homeland Security, which gives permission for reimbursement for lodging, fuel and overtime.

According to a statement from Erika Aklulfi, executive officer to the chief of police at SMPD, the department had four officers and one supervisor on the night of the April 30 counter-protester attack and 11 officers and two supervisors at the encampment’s sweep.

BHPD reported 11 officers and two sergeants on campus between the hours of 3 p.m. May 1 and 9:45 a.m May 2.

[RELATED: UCLA’s contracts with CHP, LAPD reveal costs associated with police on campus]

Emails obtained by The Bruin reveal that officers from BHPD, CCPD, SMPD and UCPD, as well as several captains from LAPD, were requested to be added to a text group chat by then-UCPD Chief John Thomas – who was later reassigned.

“These notification texts should provide this group with pertinent updates, intelligence that would be beneficial should we need to call them to respond to assist us with emergency issues involving the encampment protests in Royce Quad or elsewhere on campus,” Thomas said in an email obtained by The Bruin.

The text thread was used by officers to communicate whereabouts and activity updates for not only the first encampment but for several of the other protests on campus that occurred throughout May and June, including informing the group about the arrests of 42 people at Parking Structure 2 on May 6.

The officers inside the thread used it to tell each other where groups of protesters were moving, numbers of detainees and information about plans for new protests they had heard.

The documents also revealed an email was sent by UC Davis Chief of Police Joe Farrow on May 5, the day Rick Braziel was announced as associate vice chancellor of campus safety.

The email relayed to the other nine UCPD chiefs that Farrow, who is also the chairperson of the UCPD Council of Chiefs, and Thomas appreciated the “collective support” of the other chiefs.

“A new AVC is being brought in to oversee the PD and an advisory committee has been announced,” he said. “We are being told we will report to the new AVC.”

When asked about a redaction in the email, Farrow said he did not remember what it said exactly, but that it was intended to clarify any potential misinformation about Braziel’s new role.

“As one of the chiefs, you hear things and you don’t really understand – you don’t really know – and then you’re asked (about the new role),” Farrow said. “So I thought it was best to put something out for people to know what was going on.”

In addition to its agreements with LA County police departments, the UCLA Police Department is also included in a UC-wide agreement of mutual aid.

The UC-wide mutual aid agreement is enacted when one UC campus feels it does not have enough resources to handle a large-scale event, Farrow said. Requests depend on proximity of campuses and only happen five to 12 times a year, he added.

Thomas requested mutual aid from the chiefs of all UC police departments May 10, according to emails obtained by The Bruin. The reason for this request was redacted.

However, the mutual aid may be canceled at the discretion of any party, as expressed in an April 30 email from UC San Diego Chief of Police Lamine Secka obtained by The Bruin. According to the email, Secka had previously requested UCPD aid for UCSD’s annual Sun God Festival, but later canceled the request.

The UC Berkeley Police Department also requested aid from the UCSD Police Department for UC Berkeley’s commencement ceremony. The request, made by Chief Yogananda Pittman, asked the reporting UCSD officers to bring riot gear including a long baton, helmet and Taser.

Pro-Palestinian student protests did take place at UC Berkeley’s commencement ceremony but did not warrant police intervention.

Farrow said that even though there are 10 different police departments across the UC campuses, each chief does their best to work together to provide uniformity across each campus.

“We are trying to bring this together as consistently as we can, bring more uniformity into what we do and operate under some principles and guidelines and policies,” Farrow said. “I think that’s the work in progress that we’re working on.”