City Responds to Council Inquiries on Pretextual Traffic Stops and Prohibition of Bias-Based Policing

In response to inquiries by Mayor Victor Gordo and Councilmember Tyron Hampton during the public comment portion of a recent City Council meeting, the city provided the definition of a ‘pretext stop,’ whether pretext stops are generally permissible, and relevant Pasadena Police Department policies governing such stops.

According to a memo, a pretextual stop is when a police officer detains a person for a minor crime, like a traffic violation, because the officer believes the person is involved in or has committed another more serious crime.

Pretextual stops do not violate the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, if supported by the reasonable suspicion necessary to support a stop.

In Whren v. Brown, the Supreme Court ruled that officers can use reasonable suspicion to conduct a search.

In that case two men, Whren and Brown were driving in a ‘high drug area.’

Plainclothes officers noticed Whren and Brown at an intersection stop-sign for an usually long time. Suddenly, without signaling, they sped away at a high rate of speed. After conducting a traffic stop, he officers discovered Whren holding plastic bags of crack cocaine and arrested the men on federal drug charges.

Before trial, lawyers attempted to suppress the evidence contending that the officers used the traffic violation as a pretext for stopping the truck because they lacked either reasonable suspicion or probable cause to stop them on suspicion of drug dealing.

The District Court denied the motion to suppress and convicted the petitioners. The Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court upheld the decision.

“The Pasadena Police Department prohibits bias-based policing through Policy 402 (BiasBased Policing). Biased-based policing is defined as inappropriately relying on characteristics of persons stopped, such as race, ethnicity, or other protected classes,” according to the memo. “Additionally, policy no. 402.4.1, which tracks relevant case law, states that “[t]he duration and scope of a detention shall not exceed what is needed to handle the justification for which the detention was made, unless justified by additional facts discovered during the detention.”

In addition to the foregoing, when the City Council established the Independent Police Auditor (“IPA”) position by ordinance, it expressly authorized the IP A to review personnel investigations of bias-based policing. As such, the IPA has a role in providing the Community Police Oversight Commission, the City Councand the public, with an additional layer of oversight over Pasadena PD’s investigation of such complaints.