University of California, Berkeley Chief of Police Yogananda Pittman, who oversaw campus security amid leftist protests over Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) event, helmed the U.S. Capitol Police’s protective and intelligence operations during the 2021 Capitol riot.
Chaos erupted on Berkeley’s campus Monday evening when left wing activists clashed with attendees at the TPUSA tour stop. Videos captured by TPUSA’s Frontlines showed activists screaming at guests, lighting a flare in the crowd and physically confronting a supporter of President Donald Trump.
Pittman was appointed as Berkeley’s police chief in February 2023 after what the university called an “extensive nationwide search.” Before that, she served as the U.S. Capitol Police’s assistant chief of protective and intelligence operations beginning in September 2001, according to her LinkedIn profile.
While serving in that role, Pittman was responsible for overseeing security during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, a failure she later apologized for, saying the department had not “met its own high standards.”
Pittman was later promoted to acting Capitol Police chief and oversaw disciplinary actions against officers accused of misconduct during the incident. By September 2021, the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility launched 38 internal investigations, identifying officers in 26 cases, with misconduct confirmed in six.
The Department of Justice announced Wednesday an investigation into the UC Berkeley incident. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon called the “mob assault and thuggish intimidation” of attendees exercising their First Amendment rights “unacceptable.”
“Our office previously opened investigations of the University of California System for potential violations of Title VI and Title VII based on other events. We will determine whether the events of November 10 should also be included in those investigations,” Dhillon stated in a letter to the school.
“We are also determining whether recent events provide a basis for additional investigation of violations of federal rights, including, without limitation, violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution,” Dhillon added.
UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof told Cap Radio the school will conduct a full investigation and plans to cooperate with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force to identify “the outside agitators responsible for attempting to disrupt” the TPUSA event.
UC Berkeley’s police department has not released a public statement on its website.
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