LOS ANGELES — The University of California, Los Angeles should develop clear plans and policies, lines of communication and decision-making authority ahead of major protests such as the large student demonstrations against the war between Israel and Hamas that have rocked campus this spring, according to an outside review.

The report released Thursday by 21st Century Policing Solutions, a national law enforcement consulting agency, describes a highly chaotic response in late April and early May doomed by the university’s lack of preparation and critical communications failures .

The University of California requested it after UCLA’s controversial handling of the protests. In a statement, UC said consultants reviewed tens of thousands of documents and interviewed current and former UCLA administrators, faculty, staff, students and law enforcement.

“The purpose of the investigation was to develop a detailed set of recommended reforms intended to avoid a repeat of the deficiencies that occurred last spring,” the university system said.

Clashes between protesters and counter-protesters on campus left more than a dozen injured, and more than 200 people were arrested during a demonstration the next day after hundreds defied orders to leave campus .

Police fired flash bangs to disperse the crowd and destroyed a fortified encampment’s barricade made of plywood, pallets, metal fencing and dumpsters, then tore down awnings and tents.

As events unfolded, UCLA administrators sometimes excluded campus police from key meetings and briefings, the report notes.

Campus police also lacked plans for interacting with outside law enforcement, leaving the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol to develop an ad hoc plan without help from the officers who knew the campus best.

The report notes that the “central tension” over whether and how police should ensure public safety is part of a national debate that UCLA should have with its community.

“UCLA has thus far ineffectively responded to this tension, functionally excluding police from planning and engagement, but then requiring law enforcement to engage once the tensions escalated into violence,” the report said.

The university said in a statement that it is committed to campus safety and will continue to implement recommendations, some of which are ongoing.