Independent Police Auditor Dr. Richard Rosenthal to Appear on ‘Pasadena Monthly with Justin Chapman’

Pasadena Media’s award-nominated local TV talk show, “Pasadena Monthly with Justin Chapman,” formerly known as the award-winning “NewsRap Local with Justin Chapman,” continues this Friday at 5 p.m. PT on Pasadena Media’s cable TV channels and streaming apps.

The episode will feature a discussion with Dr. Richard Rosenthal, Pasadena’s independent police auditor.

Dr. Rosenthal is a former LA County public corruption prosecutor who was responsible for uncovering the LAPD Rampart scandal in the 1990s. He has created police oversight agencies in Portland, Oregon (2001); Denver, Colorado (2005); and British Columbia, Canada (2012). He received his PhD in Criminology from Simon Fraser University in 2021, with an emphasis on civilian oversight of the police. 

His PhD dissertation evaluated the implementation of the federal Consent Decree in Seattle, Washington. In 2019, Dr. Rosenthal published the first academic article describing the Independent Critical Incident Investigation Agency form of civilian oversight on a global basis.

Dr. Rosenthal is currently a member of the Cleveland Consent Decree Monitoring Team working on police accountability mechanisms; is the principal consultant for the Washington State Office of Independent Investigations (which will be the first civilian-based agency to conduct criminal investigations of police uses of deadly force in the United States); and is currently serving as the Independent Police Auditor for the City of Pasadena.

“Pasadena Monthly” airs at 5 p.m. on the fourth Friday of every month on Pasadena Media’s Arroyo Channel and streaming apps, available on channel 99 on AT&T U-verse, channel 32 on Charter Spectrum, YouTube, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku. The show is written, hosted and produced by Chapman, directed and edited by Jeffrey Stanfill and executive produced by George Falardeau, CEO and executive director of Pasadena Media.

“This is must-watch television each month for everyone who cares about this city,” Falardeau said.

Earlier this year, Chapman won two 1st place journalism awards from the Los Angeles Press Club, as well as a 3rd place award and two finalist positions. He has won a total of nine awards from the LA Press Club in recent years, including three 1st place awards. 

Last year, the previous iteration of the show, “NewsRap Local,” won a 2nd place award in News Programming at the Alliance for Community Media West’s WAVE video awards.

Guests on “Pasadena Monthly” and “NewsRap Local” have included Congress member Judy Chu (D-27); Congress member Adam Schiff (D-28); Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-41); Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo; Pasadena city manager Miguel Márquez; LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger; JPL director Dr. Laurie Leshin; and many others.

Chapman was the youngest elected official in LA County when he served on the Altadena Town Council at age 19. He has served on a number of local boards and wrote hundreds of articles for two dozen print and digital publications, including KPCC/LAist, Alta Journal, Huffington Post, LA Weekly, Irish Post, Berkeley Political Review, Pasadena Weekly, Pasadena Star-News, Pasadena Now and many others. He currently serves as the District 6 Council Liaison/Field Representative to Pasadena City Councilmember Steve Madison.

Learn more at justindouglaschapman.com and pasadenamedia.org.