Hampton Will Have Stakeholders Help Vet Police Oversight Candidates During Virtual Meeting Next Week

Representatives from various stakeholder groups will be interviewing candidates for the city’s newly constituted Police Oversight Commission at a virtual forum from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday hosted by District 1 City Councilmember Tyron Hampton.

“The virtual forum will provide an opportunity for community members to become familiar with the council district’s applicants for the Community Police Oversight Commission,” according to a statement about the event.

Hampton called the position important when reached by Pasadena Now on Thursday.

“This is an opportunity for the community to fully engage and participate in the process,” Hampton said. “Making the selection for District 1 will be neighbors, community organizations, neighborhood associations and the future of our city — our youth. Both high schools in the first district were invited to participate to make this selection.”

Hampton said 10 candidates are scheduled to be interviewed.

The city received nearly 90 applications from local residents hoping to secure one of the 11 seats on the commission.

According to the city ordinance, the City Council and the mayor will get one pick and three community organizations will get one pick each.

Some local residents have been pushing for oversight since the early ’90s. However, there the majority of elected officials never supported the idea until after George Floyd was killed by police last summer in Minneapolis.

The event kicked off demonstrations and some riots across the country.

The meeting can be viewed at https://bit.ly/D1CPOC

Participants are asked to join the meeting by 4:55 p.m.

Hampton is the second councilmember to announce plans to publicly vet candidates for the commission.

District 5 councilmember Jessica Rivas plans to hold a meeting on Saturday.

Councilmember Rivas to Conduct Interviews for Police Oversight on Saturday