It may be the most important case in UCLA police history: how to identify the dozens of people who attacked a pro-Palestinian camp in the center of campus last week.
The collective violence was filmed live on television, but it took the police three hours to put an end to it. Those involved have left and no arrests have been made.
But the trail is not cold.
UCLA detectives are now scanning hundreds of images to try to identify the attackers. They intend to use technology that captures images of faces and compares them to other photos on the Internet and social media to give names to the faces, according to police sources.
The same technology has allowed police to identify suspects in retail burglaries. It was also the heart of the Jan. 6 investigation, in which videos of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol helped the FBI identify many of the attackers and led federal prosecutors to charge more than 1,300 people. In these cases, investigators were often able to find images on social media of the attacker wearing the same clothes as during the attack.
“Technology has put the entire community in the eyes of law enforcement,” said retired Los Angeles Police Capt. Paul Vernon, who led action after a mini-riot following the Lakers victory in the NBA in 2010, which resulted in dozens of arrests. on videos, social media posts and security images. “Photo recognition just got a lot easier.”
Vernon said an investigator could also collect cellphone data from the immediate area to prove a person was there at the time of the incident. In some cases, the perpetrators may have posted messages on their social media accounts, essentially bragging about their actions. Officers wearing body cameras may have also captured some of the behavior, he said.
The attackers likely came in vehicles, so UCLA police will review license plate reader data regarding movements near campus Wednesday morning. Security cameras installed on streets near campus, where they likely parked, could provide more clues.
Along with continued protests, tracking down those who attacked the camp will be a major challenge for UCLA Associate Vice Chancellor Rick Braziel, a former Sacramento police chief. Braziel will be charged with bringing to justice those responsible for what Chancellor Gene Block called “a dark chapter in our campus history.”
Despite the technology, the probe faces obstacles. Some of the attackers wore masks, making it more difficult to identify them. In those cases, detectives will look for a time before or after the attack when the perpetrators’ faces are revealed, an official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation told the Times.
There is also deep anger among some protesters at the camp because it took police so long to stop the attack. This distrust could have harmful consequences. Many injured students, some of whom were hospitalized due to their injuries, went to groups such as the American Council on Islamic Relations for Southern California but did not speak to campus police.
UCLA is a small police department, so it is reaching out to other agencies and private entities for access to technology needed for the investigation, law enforcement sources said. But so far, UCLA has not made a public appeal for information on specific suspects.
Following the January 6 attack, the FBI made arrests based on information from parents, co-workers, teammates, former friends and ex-relatives after the FBI published photos of the suspects. An army of web sleuths and politically informed social media observers known as “sedition hunters” also dedicated themselves to identifying the crowd and relaying their names to the FBI.
Images of the UCLA attack are popping up on Instagram. In one case, a man can be seen using a board to hit a pro-Palestinian protester, then punching and kicking the others. Dressed in a black sweatshirt, white sweatpants and a black cap, his bearded face is not hidden. Police may use this image to track him or ask for help to identify him.
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