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Division Roils Pasadena NAACP in Wake of Body Camera Legal Action Against Police, City

Members claim local chapter president acted improperly and unilaterally by launching litigation

Published on Monday, November 28, 2016 | 6:50 am
 

Legal action filed last week by the Pasadena Branch of the NAACP against the City of Pasadena, City Manager Steve Mermell and Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez has sent ripples of discontent through the local organization as some Executive Board members say Branch President Gary Moody acted unilaterally and improperly in launching the litigation.

Past Branch President Joe Brown and several Executive Board members said that Moody neither consulted the Board and the membership nor did he obtain proper authority from the state and national arms of the NAACP prior to the litigation.

The legal action filed November 22 petitions the Superior Court to issue a permanent injunction restraining the Pasadena Police Department from directing its personnel to operate body cameras under a set of guidelines issued by Police Chief Sanchez on November 4.

If those directives, known as Policy 450, are barred from use by the court the cameras will be withdrawn from field deployment by the Department until a new operational policy can be authorized, according to multiple sources.

The petition and complaint allege that Mermell and Sanchez acted together to submit a “bait and switch” funding request to the Department of Justice to pay for the body cameras which has resulted in a completely different operational policy than the draft policy in the request.

NAACP Pasadena Branch President Gary Moody

It also accuses the pair of “fraudulently” obtaining letters of support from the NAACP and other community stakeholders to support the grant.

NAACP Pasadena Branch Board member Lois Gaston said the lawsuit was filed improperly, without the Executive Board’s knowledge.

“I personally did not know about this lawsuit before it was filed, and that is a concern to me,” she said. “I do not approve of this action being taken without the Board’s approval, and without the membership’s approval.”

Gaston stressed that despite her reservations about the lawsuit, she believes that both the current Pasadena police body camera policy and the process by which that policy was authorized are flawed.

Former NAACP Pasadena Branch President Joe Brown said he “absolutely 100 percent” believes Moody was on his own in filing the action.

Brown explained, “The [NAACP] policy says that local committees must have reviewed any action where there may be any legal consequences. They then forward the request to the state level. The state level then forwards the request if they so agree, to a national level.”

“The NAACP is supportive of video cameras, [but] now you have somebody saying, ‘Well, because … we didn’t decide the policy, then get rid of it!’” Brown said. “… and that creates a lot of problems.”

Moody declined to discuss his actions in regards to the litigation, instead issuing a statement through Branch Legal Counsel Skip Hickambottom.

“The decision to file the lawsuit is an internal matter of the NAACP presently being discussed. We do not think it is appropriate, nor do we intend, to discuss this matter in the press,” said Moody’s statement.

Representatives of the national NAACP headquarters and Regional Director Sandy Thomas could not be reached for comment over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Representatives from various branches of the NAACP have been reluctant to comment on the story. Both Juanita Tillman, Secretary for the Pasadena NAACP and Nicholas Rothman, from the State Branch of the NAACP, refused to go on the record with Pasadena Now for the story.

Rothman hung up on a Pasadena Now researcher.

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