Guest Opinion | Coalition for Increased Civilian Oversight of Pasadena Police Reiterates Demand for Independent Police Oversight

The Coalition for Increased Civilian Oversight of Pasadena Police (CICOPP) reiterates its demand for civilian oversight as presented in the Community Bill of Rights.  The proposal for police oversight from the Public Safety Committee that will be discussed by the City Council on Monday afternoon, July 27, does not go far enough to provide independent oversight.

In an effort led by the Pasadena Chapter of the NAACP and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the Community Bill of Rights, which was presented to the community in mid-June and now has more than 600 supporters, clearly states that “The City Council should create a Community Police Oversight Commission, to be made up of city residents, and hire a paid, full-time Independent Police Auditor.  The Auditor would have subpoena power, select the Commission staff and report to the City Council.”

The Public Safety Committee recommends that the City hire an Independent Police Auditor (IPA), and that it report to the City Manager, and not the City Council.  CICOPP stresses such a reporting structure is not truly independent and would lead to a potential conflict of interest since both the IPA and the Police Chief would both report to the City Manager.

The City has been advised that the “only way” for such a position to have independence from the City Manager form of government is by City Charter amendment – an idea which they do not want to explore at this time. Further, there is no mention in the recommendation whether the IPA would be empowered to hire staff to perform the necessary functions of the position.

The recommendation also fails to speak to subpoena power which would be critical in supporting the duties of the IPA and Community Oversight Commission. It seems current city officials believe that because our Police Chief is not elected and reports directly to the City Manager, that the proposed oversight bodies would not have any challenges in accessing information.

This assumption relies heavily on the cooperative nature of our current City Manager and Police Chief. However, without a formal system to access pertinent investigatory documents in place, the oversight bodies would be at the mercy of whoever occupies the City Manager and Police Chief positions, and runs a real risk of being denied what would be needed to properly execute its functions. All these issues would render the IPA toothless.

In addition, The Public Safety Committee’s recommendation calls for 10-of-13 Community Oversight Commission appointments to be made by the Mayor, City Council Members, City Manager and Police Chief, with only three appointments to come from the community at large.

“Such make-up would likely end up turning the commission into a political body and not a representative one,” reasons Juliana Serrano, CICOPP spokesperson.

“CICOPP believes that the commission must reflect the diversity in the communities most impacted by abuse of police power and violence,” Serrano continued.

“Setting up a commission in virtually the same manner as other city commissions, does not bring Pasadena closer to the radical reform the community demands and needs.”

In this time of national and global uprising against police violence, our elected officials, City Manager and Police Chief must do everything necessary to eradicate police injustice from our community. They must rethink the role of our police, what we mean by “public safety,” and how our police interact with those whom they are sworn to serve and protect – particularly our communities of color.

The current recommendation of the Public Safety Committee to the City Council does not meet the expectations for the transformative and institutional change called for in the Community Bill of Rights. CICOPP will keep fighting for truly independent oversight of the police, centered in the voices of community members most impacted by dangerous policing, with real power and authority to make necessary changes to the municipal service that is law enforcement.