Councilmembers Inquired About Pretext Stops By Police One Year Ago

Nearly one year after members of the City Council called for information on the City’s policy on pretext stops, the practice is back in the forefront.

On May 4, 2022, the City responded to an inquiry from Mayor Victor Gordo and Councilmember Tyron Hampton to provide the definition of a ‘pretext stop,’ whether pretext stops are generally permissible, and relevant Pasadena Police Department policies governing such stops.

Gordo and Hampton’s inquiry came after the public comment portion of a City Council meeting. 

According to that 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.

On Monday, the City Council reviewed a report by the Office of Independent Review on the officer involved shooting of Anthony McClain. 

McClain was fatally shot after he fled from police during a traffic stop after the vehicle in which he was a passenger was pulled over for not having a front license plate. 

“As indicated, the officers were instructed to police this area because of some crime problems, but it was a license plate that was not correct that caused the basis for this stop, eventually the detention, ultimately the use of deadly force,” said Michael Gennaco, Principal of the Office of Independent Review Group (OIR), which was contracted by the City to investigate the shooting.

“All data I have seen from the RIPA (Racial Identity and Profiling Act) suggests that these stops are disproportionate. They tend to be conducted in a way that they impact people of color more than others.” 

The City’s police oversight commission will receive a presentation on the report in a special meeting on Thursday.

Although District Attorney George Gascón’s office has cleared the police officers of any criminality, the OIR is calling for 27 policy changes in the department.

The agenda for Thursday’s meeting was published Tuesday.

The report is the OIR Group’s third critical police incident review for the City of Pasadena over the past 14 years. The OIR was previously retained to review the shooting of Leroy Barnes, Jr., in February of 2009 and the March 2012 shooting of Kendrec McDade.

According to Gordo, any recommendations by the Commission will go to the Public Safety Committee and finally, the City Council for final discussion.  

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

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, the 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.”