Pasadena NAACP objects to Chief Sanchez’ outsourcing to Sheriff:
Gary Moody, President of the Pasadena Branch of the NAACP, last week
announced that the NAACP’s executive committee took three actions
to support increased civilian oversight of the Pasadena Police
Department.
First, the NAACP objects to Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez’s new
policy announced on March 17 that he would outsource future police use-of-force
investigations to the LA County Sheriff’s Department. Moody stated “This s a
step backwards, not forwards. There is a serious issue of trust for the Sheriff’s
Department. It would be better for the Pasadena PD to continue to be
accountable for its own investigations than to inject Sheriff’s Department officers
into Pasadena.”
Second, the NAACP supports the proposal of ACLU senior staff attorney
Peter Bibring expressed in a recent op-ed piece in the Star-News – i.e., the
creation of the position of a police auditor reporting to the Pasadena City
Council’s Public Safety Committee (“PSC”). Moody stated “Part-time City Council
Members do not have the time and resources to effectively monitor the Police
Department. A full-time police auditor who is independent of the Police
Department and who has the power and resources to investigate, audit, and
monitor the Police Department would strengthen the ability of busy PSC
members to conduct effective oversight of the Pasadena PD.”
Third, the NAACP has formally joined the ACLU-led community coalition
advocating increased civilian oversight of the Pasadena PD and designated
attorney Elbie J. Hickambottom, Jr., as its representative to the coalition.