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Pasadena Police Use of Force Statistics Continue to Drop

Kick and strike incidents down by 54 percent from 2018

Published on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 | 5:23 am
 
Pasadena police officers opened fire at two suspects in a May 2, 2019 incident during which a driver allegedly attempted to drive straight at them to escape. Image courtesy City of Pasadena

According to a report by Pasadena Police Chief John Perez, last year his officers used force in 34 of 6,300 arrests during 120,000 calls for service.

In total police used force in less than one percent of the arrests made, .54 percent of the time. The statistics were scheduled to be presented to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, but the meeting was canceled due to a lack of a quorum. The presentation will be rescheduled.

According to the report, Pasadena police officers were involved in three officer-involved shootings last year.

On January 11, 2019, officers shot at Brandon Green during a foot pursuit in the 1800 block of Raymond Avenue after Green retrieved a gun from his pants. Green fell to the ground, but neither he nor police officers were injured.

Green allegedly was wanted on an outstanding drug warrant.

In May, Pasadena police officers fatally shot Daniel Warren, 36, in Northwest Pasadena after Warren pointed a gun at the officers, who opened fire on him. Warren was wearing a bullet-proof vest and armed with a rifle fitted with a high-capacity drum-style magazine, as well as a handgun.

Warren had retreated to a nearby backyard, where he was found unresponsive and pronounced dead from at least one gunshot wound.

That same month, police fired on an SUV near the Mountain View Cemetery at the end of a car chase. After the car crashed near Raymond Avenue and Woodbury Road officers ordered the suspects to get out of the vehicle. When the driver started the vehicle and attempted to flee in the direct path of officers, a police officer fired two rounds from his service weapon. There were no injuries to either the suspects or police.

The department launched six personnel investigations against local police officers from the 47 complaints received.

According to the report most crimes were reduced by double digits except for assault and motor thefts.

“I’m concerned about the assaults,” Perez told Pasadena Now. “Street violence impacts quality of life. I’m also concerned about the burglaries. It doesn’t matter if statistics are down when your house is the one that has been broken into to or there have been burglaries on your street.”

Perez said he is also paying more attention to where the calls for service are coming from because many times they are indicators of possible crime spikes in those areas.

Additional numbers from the report revealed there were 12 shooting victims last year, one gang-related murder, four homicides, which is a 43 percent decrease from 2018, 32 assaults on Pasadena police officers. Officers seized 225 firearms, a 2 percent decline in crime and a 12 percent decline since 2016.

Perez said despite the good numbers, he hopes to reduce Part 1 crimes — homicide, sexual assault, assault, robbery, burglary, arson, larceny and auto theft — by 3 percent and calls for service by 5 percent in the next fiscal year which begins in July.

“I am hoping we can bring down crime a little more,” Perez said, “I think we can do it.”

 

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