Quick Take
UC Santa Cruz police are still investigating what happened when they made arrests of 122 people at the Gaza solidarity encampment May 31. The Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office said it hasn't finished reviewing reports and hasn't made formal filing decisions.
UC Santa Cruz police arrested 122 protesters and their supporters at the pro-Palestine encampment on campus on May 31, but nearly seven months later, not one of them has been formally charged by the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.
The police charged all of the arrested protesters with failure to disperse and several with resisting arrest and battery of an officer.
However, prior to proceeding to a trial, the police have to send their reports, including evidence of the alleged offenses committed, to the DA’s office for a review. After the office reviews the reports and evidence, attorneys ultimately decide if they will file formal charges.
Assistant District Attorney Steve Drottar told Lookout earlier this month that UCSC police had submitted reports for just one of the 122 people who were arrested May 31.
“That case is under review and if the case is filed we will send a letter to appear,” he said via email.
Drottar later added that the district attorney’s office is still waiting for evidence from the police department and therefore it hasn’t finished reviewing the case in order to make a decision whether or not to bring charges.
“At this point there will not be a filing decision before Monday,” he said Friday. “UCPD is still investigating.”
Police arrested and charged more than 3,100 people last spring during raids of Gaza solidarity encampments at university campuses across the country. By July, The New York Times reported, many of those charges had been dropped.
UC Santa Cruz police have given no indication whether they will drop charges. Through written correspondence, investigators have told people who were arrested that the police department has up to one year from the date of the arrest to submit charges to the district attorney’s office. The letters raised concerns among some students, who previously told Lookout they believed the lengthy uncertainty around whether they will ultimately face formal charges was an attempt to quell future protests and free speech activities on campus.
In a letter dated Aug. 8 and addressed to one of the people arrested, UC Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Domby notified the student of the timeframe to submit charges.
“Please be aware that the statute of limitations for submitting charges related to your arrest to the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office extends up to one year from the date of your arrest,” Domby wrote. “The decision to pursue charges against you will rest with UCSC PD and will be influenced by any future unlawful conduct.”
When asked about the letters in September, UCSC spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason didn’t respond to several questions from Lookout, including why UCSC sent the letters, how many protesters are receiving them, when police would send arrest reports to the district attorney’s office and whether the police plan to send them at all.
“We have been providing updates to those involved when there is more information to share,” he wrote to Lookout in late August. “It’s not our practice to publicly share details about ongoing police investigations.”
Domby and Hernandez-Jason haven’t responded to multiple requests for information or interviews about when the police plan to send reports to the district attorney’s office for the May 31 arrests, what the charges were, and how many people the police department was pursuing charges against.
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.