Police Oversight Discussion Continues This Week

Although there is no City Council session scheduled for Monday, the discussion on police oversight will continue at 3 p.m. Wednesday at a meeting of the council’s Public Safety Committee (PSC).

According to a memorandum by City Manager Steve Mermell, the matter is returning for further discussion and possible refinement before being presented to the City Council for consideration.

The discussion will include no new staff recommendations.

The PSC agenda contained a July 27 City Council staff report recommending the council considers whether to direct the city attorney to prepare an amendment to the municipal code that would put in place a plan authored by Councilmember John Kennedy, who chairs the PSC, and Mayor Terry Tornek.

That plan would establish a 13-member Community Police Oversight Commission appointed by the council, city manager, chief of police, and three unnamed community groups.

The commission would be under the purview of the city manager and implementation would not require a change to the city charter.

“There have been renewed calls for enhanced civilian oversight of the Police Department as a means of creating both more trust between the department and all segments of the community that it serves and a formal mechanism to obtain community input into policing issues,” according to a city staff report.

Activists want more

Many activists say the plan does not go far enough. They have called for a plan that provides a commission with subpoena power. Activists also object to the commission being under the authority of the city manager.

In a heated meeting that lasted more than seven hours last Monday, the council voted 6-2 against a motion that would have allowed voters to decide on a plan that would have required changes to the city’s charter and established a commission with subpoena power.

Only Councilmembers Victor Gordo and Tyron Hampton, who also serves as vice mayor, supported the motion. Gordo is running against Tornek in a runoff election in November.

Hampton has called the Tornek/Kennedy plan another Public Safety Committee and questioned how it would hold anyone accountable.

The council was forced to deliberate on the more aggressive plan last Monday in order to meet the required deadlines for the November ballot.

After the plan was voted down, activists told Pasadena Now they would continue to fight for “meaningful reform.”

In an interview with Pasadena Now reporter Brian Day, longtime activist Kris Ockershauser of the ACLU Southern California Pasadena-Foothills Chapter said police reform activists “remain committed to securing subpoena power through the ballot as essential to accessing critical documents and testimony about police misconduct and over-policing of Pasadena’s communities of color, while being unable to solve real crime in neighborhoods,” Ockershauser said. “We remain committed to much fuller transparency and accountability to the public than the council is willing to give.”

Unknown timetable

It is not known when the Tornek/Kennedy plan will come back to the council for further consideration.

According to a city staff report, the purpose of the commission established under the Tornek/Kennedy plan would be, “through public meetings, to review and make recommendations to the Chief of Police, City Manager and City Council regarding the ongoing operations of the Police Department; receive community feedback and complaints and refer them for further review; monitor and receive reports on hiring and training; monitor and publish statistics on uses of force, complaints, and outcomes; provide input on policy recommendations prior to adoption; receive reports from the Independent Police Auditor regarding critical incidents, policies, and other matters; and produce a publicly available annual report.”

Members of the commission would be required to complete at least 30 hours of training in the relevant subject matter. The commission would be charged with reporting back to the City Council with sufficient time prior to the 2022 general election, on any proposed changes to the oversight structure that would necessitate a change to the city’s charter.

The city would also have to modify the responsibilities of the City Council Public Safety Committee in order to eliminate duplication of effort.

Heeding the call

The City Council began taking police accountability seriously after African-American motorist George Floyd was killed on May 25 in Powderhorn, Minnesota during an encounter with police. Police placed a knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes during the arrest, despite pleas by the 46-year-old father of two that he could not breathe.

During the encounter, a desperate and dying Floyd begged for his life.

“Don’t kill me,” and “Please, the knee in my neck,” “I can’t breathe.”

Bystanders pleaded to police, but they did not respond. At least one witness said the police were “enjoying that” during the incident.

Officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder. Meanwhile, Officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

Floyd’s death has once again sparked long-held concerns about acts of violence and the use of force by white police officers against African Americans.

“Across the United States, at the federal, state and local level, debate is underway regarding law enforcement,” the staff report reads. “This broad conversation ranges from the role of the police in our society, funding levels for law enforcement relative to social services, the laws, policies, and procedures governing police departments and the appropriate level of civilian oversight.”