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Say Cheese – Pasadena Police Implements Body Worn Cameras
COMPLIMENTARY COPY VOLUME 20, NO. 45
Pasadena Civic Center Coalition Challenges Pasadena Approval of City Hall Hotel Project
The Pasadena Civic Center Coalition (Pasadena CCC) filed a court challenge to the City of Pasadena’s approval to build a six-story, 185-room hotel located on city-owned land directly across from the Pasadena City Hall and within the Pasadena Civic Center National Register Historic District (PCCNRD). Build in 1927, the Pasadena City Hall is a City of Pasadena Historic Monument, a California Historic Landmark, and the most significant contributing building of the PCCNRD. The Pasadena Civic Center is nationally recognized as one of the best examples of Beaux-Arts design SEE PAGE 10
Under the new body worn camera policy, officers involved in shootings will be allowed to review their camera footage before giving statements.
BY GUS HERRERA Effective as of this past Monday, the officers of the Pasadena Police Department will now be equipped with body worn cameras. Despite being a step towards the right direction, with respects to cultivating a stronger sense of trans-
parency and accountability between the police and the citizens they are sworn to protect, the decision to implement the cameras upon such short notice has stirred up quite a bit of controversy. City Manager Steve Mermell made the announcement that the cameras would be going into effect in his Nov. 3 weekly newsletter. In the
statement, Mermell revealed that the police department completed “implementation of body worn cameras ahead of schedule.” The policy was approved under the authority granted to the chief of police by the city’s municipal code section 2.295.030. Additionally, the policy was subject to a meet and confer process
with the Pasadena Police Officers Association (aka collective bargaining agreement). Mermell’s newsletter also acknowledged the fact that there have been requests to first release the body camera policy as a draft, subject to further public review/discussion, but he stated that “doing so would
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not have been consistent with the closure reached by the meet and confer process and … the municipal code provision.” He went on to say that the policy’s development process afforded adequate opportunity for public input via a public safety commitSEE PAGE 11
PUSD Seeks Applicants for 7-11 Committee
The Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) seeks applicants to serve on its 7-11 Committee. The Committee is being formed to advise the Board of Education SEE PAGE 10