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Nearly one year after the formation of the police oversight commission, new City Manager Miguel Márquez will deliver introductory remarks when he appears before the Community Police Oversight Commission for the first time.
The CPOC, established in late October 2021, was created by the City to enhance, develop and strengthen community-police relations and review and make recommendations regarding the ongoing operations of the Pasadena Police Department.
The Commission is composed of 11 members. Eight were nominated by the City Council while three were nominated from community-based organizations.
Calls for a civilian police oversight commission date back to the early 1990s after the acquittal of the four LAPD officers who beat up Altadena’s Rodney King in 1992 sparked the LA riots.
After the riots, local residents Meta McCullough and Karen Hooks Roon led the calls for a civilian oversight commission, but those calls fell on deaf ears at City Hall.
One year later, the officer-involved death of popular local barber Michael Bryant, who was killed following a police pursuit, reignited the debate.
The issue returned after the officer-involved deaths of Maurice Clark and LaMont Robinson, who died 10 days apart in officer-involved incidents in 2004.
The issue came back for debate in 2012 following the officer-involved shooting death of 19-year-old Kendrec McDade.
Ironically, an incident outside of Pasadena proved to be a watershed moment.
Like the police beating of Rodney King, the death of Minnesota motorist George Floyd forced many white residents to acknowledge police enforcement issues existed around the country and finally moved the Pasadena City Council to approve a police oversight commission and an independent police auditor.
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