Dozens of videos, some from journalists, others from participants and bystanders, show officers with their name tags removed firing stun grenades and rubber bullets indiscriminately at fleeing protesters and bystanders and hunting stragglers through the streets.
Local officials are instantly accountable if water is not delivered, waste is not removed, fires are not put out and criminals are not apprehended.
This is not the first time fire pits have been targeted for removal in Southern California — but the last major effort to remove fire pits was only for budgetary reasons: San Diego cut the financing for them in 2008 as the city dealt with budget shortfalls.
He has also suggested removing fire-alarm boxes from city streets, to stop hoax calls.
"The harder you try to remove fire, the worse it gets," says Mark Finney, a research scientist at the U.S. Forest Service's research lab in Missoula, Mont.
That plan called for fewer garbage collections, further cuts in the size of the police force, removing fire companies from some fire stations that house more than one, and closing a number of health clinics.
During a somber noon news conference at the university, Mr. Campolo played down the importance of the university's recent decision to remove fire hoses from standpipes on each of Boland Hall's six floors.
The state parks department, suffering its own fiscal woes, also plans to remove fire rings at several beaches, though an informal tally by beachcalifornia.com shows that 29 of 108 state parks with beaches still allow them.
In Alaska, where a half-million acres have burned this year and the fire season came earlier than anyone can remember, insurers have already stopped offering policies to homeowners who refuse to remove fire hazards from their houses in areas where dead spruce trees are likely to burn.
Alternative plans include removing fire engines from certain stations.
