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COMPLIMENTARY COPY VOLUME 20, NO. 16
Pasadena City Council Rejects Recommendation for Citizen Police Oversight BY GUS HERRERA
According to the report,“the focus of the project was on how oversight could improve police-community relations in Pasadena.” - Photo by Terry Miller
Pasadena Gang Member Gets 30 Years to Life in Death of Two, Including a Boy, During 2012 Police Pursuit A Pasadena gang member was sentenced April 15 for the death of two people, including an 11-year-old boy, killed when his vehicle crashed against theirs during a police pursuit on
Christmas 2012, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced. Darrell Lee Williams, 25, received 30 years to life in state prison in case GA088486. Deputy District
Attorney Adan Montalban of the Hardcore Gang Division in Pasadena said Williams was found guilty on Nov. 10, 2015, of two counts of voluntary manslaughter and five counts of assault
with a deadly weapon, an automobile. Jurors also found true allegations that Williams inflicted great bodily injury. Co-defendant SEE PAGE 14
On Monday, April 18, the Pasadena City Council held a special joint meeting with the city’s public safety committee. The council and committee were presented with a final report recommending a form of police oversight, which city council and Mayor Tornek ultimately rejected. This process began in October 2015 when the city issued a Request for Proposals for an analysis of police oversight models, in order to determine whether or not the city should establish civilian oversight for the Pasadena Police Department (PPD). The city subsequently entered into a $50,000 contract with the firm Change Integration Consulting to carry out the analysis. Kathryn Olson of Change Integration Consulting and Barbara Attard prepared the report presented during the meeting, which summarized their findings. Both Olson and Attard have years of professional
experience with respects to oversight. According to city staff’s report, the two “have been active in the National Association for the Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, each previously serving as president.” This analysis was not intended to be an evaluation or assessment of the police department or any specific incident, according to the report. It was important to recognize this fact because civilian oversight is typically in direct response to a police incident, which is not the case here in Pasadena. According to the report, “the focus of the project was on how oversight could improve police-community relations in Pasadena.” The consultant’s task included three fundamental steps. Firstly, they met with stakeholders in order to identify particular issues of concern which oversight could potentially address. Secondly, they analyzed 23 different existing SEE PAGE 15
Pasadena Unified’s John Muir High School Student Wins Gates Millennium Scholarship
John Muir High School senior Prakash Dass has been named a 2016 Gates Millennium Scholar, becoming the school’s seventh winner of the prestigious
academic scholarship since 2005, announced Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) officials. Marshall SEE PAGE 14
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