Public Can Tell City How Police Should Use Body Cameras at Committee Meeting Tonight

The Public Safety Committee will conduct a special meeting tonight, Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at which the public may give input on the use of body-worn cameras by the Pasadena Police Department. The meeting will take place at the Pasadena City Hall Council Chamber S249 at 100 N. Garfield Ave.

The Pasadena Police Department has been testing body-worn cameras for deployment later this year, pending the formulation of policy for their usage by the City Council. The meeting tonight is a step in the direction of creating that usage policy.

This special meeting will allow residents to provide their input on the new policy including usage and storage of video recordings, how and when body cameras should be turned on and off, public access to the video recordings, and all privacy matters.

Prior to the meeting, civil rights attorneys Dale L. Gronemeier and Skip Hickambottom sent a letter to Mayor Terry Tornek and the Chair of the Public Safety Committee, John Kennedy, outlining their objections to the planned consultation with the police union over the use of body cameras.

“There are important public policy issues that have to be decided before Pasadena implements body cameras for its police officers,” Gronemeir and Hickambottom said in the letter. “The most contested issue is whether police officers should be advantaged by being able to see video of critical incidents such as police shootings before giving their criminal investigation statements while other witnesses should be disadvantaged by not having the same accessibility to the video.”

The public is welcome to attend the special meeting tonight and make comments.