We Get Letters

PPD and ICE

Dear Mayor Gordo and members of the Public Safety Committee,

First, let me say congratulations on winning your race to be the Mayor of Pasadena. I look forward to working with you in the coming years to make Pasadena a place we can all safely call home.

Which brings me to the subject of this letter. Today I read that the Pasadena Police Department has been sending data obtained from license plate surveillance to ICE affiliated organizations against the explicit instructions of city council and against their own repeated promises to the most senior officials in the city.

It was extremely disturbing to find out that the the Pasadena Police Department repeatedly lied to the public safety committee and to city council. Either that or there was gross negligence in their use of private information when they knew the community and the city council was concerned about this very thing happening.

If I had performed this badly at my job I would very likely be fired. You and others have repeated, and I think rightly, said that the police department needs to have a better relationship with the community; one based on trust. But how can we trust the police when they repeatedly demonstration that it would be dangerous to trust them.

There need to be consequence for this misconduct. The city should immediately stop using these Orwellian devices that place people at risk just by driving through the city. Additionally there should be penalties for the civil servants who so egregiously violated the public trust…again.

Sincerely,

Ryan Bell
Pasadena

Got something to say, email Managing Editor André Coleman, at andrec@pasadenanowmagazine.com