Police Department Adopts All Oversight Commission Recommendations on Pretextual Traffic Stops

The Pasadena Police Department on Thursday will present its response to the City’s Community Police Oversight Commission’s (CPOC) recommendations on pretextual stops.

A pretextual police traffic stop is when law enforcement stops a vehicle for a minor traffic violation or infraction, but the real purpose of the stop is to investigate a separate, more serious crime unrelated to the traffic violation. The minor violation is used as a pretext or excuse to justify the stop legally.

According to the CPOC agenda, the department has formally accepted three recommendations designed to strengthen transparency and accountability in police encounters.

“Anytime the Pasadena Police Department, the Independent Police Auditor (IPA), and the Community Police Oversight Commission (CPOC) can work together in a solutions-based manner is a win for the community,” Pasadena Police Chief Eugene Harris told Pasadena Now on Monday. “The policies we’ve enacted I believe will have a positive impact in professionalizing our service.”

A pretextual stop occurs when a police officer stops or detains a person for a minor crime, like a traffic violation, because the officer believes the person is involved in or has committed another more serious crime.

Police officers in several jurisdictions have already begun banning pretext stops or establishing new policies.

The new measures to limit the use of “curb-sitting” during investigative detentions, require officers to document when it occurs, and ensure it is used only when a clear threat exists.

The department also updated its Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) form to include “curb-sitting” as a separate category for better data tracking, and agreed to work annually with the Independent Police Auditor to analyze traffic-stop data and guide future policy and training.

The recommendations, submitted by the CPOC on June 9, were reviewed by Police Chief Gene Harris and his command staff, with input from the Police Officers and Lieutenants Associations.

According to the department, policy and form updates have already been enacted.

The first recommendation addressed the department’s “curb-sitting” practices during investigatory detentions. CPOC advised that officers should receive a written directive limiting the use of curb-sitting and be required to document when and why it is used.

In response, the department incorporated these changes instead of issuing a separate directive. Officers are now instructed to use “less intrusive alternatives when possible,” and curb-sitting is permitted only when an “articulable threat exists.”

Any use of the practice must be temporary and documented in the department’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) report.

CPOC’s second recommendation focused on improving data accuracy by updating the RIPA form to distinguish curb-sitting from other types of detentions.

The department agreed, adding “curb-sitting” as a distinct option under Section 5: Actions Taken During Traffic Stop of the RIPA form. Officials said the update will enhance “data accuracy and transparency” in reporting outcomes from traffic stops.

The final recommendation called for annual collaboration between the Police Department and the Independent Police Auditor (IPA) to jointly analyze RIPA data, police reports, and other records to inform future policy and training.

The police department agreed to conduct annual data reviews with the IPA, saying it “supports data-driven improvements in policing” and aims to use these findings to strengthen public trust.

Harris said the department’s actions underscore its commitment to “transparency, accountability, and community engagement.”

“The Pasadena Police Department supports all CPOC recommendations,” a staff report contained in the CPOC agenda reads. “We’ve already implemented the policy and form updates, and our annual review process with the IPA will begin this year.”

The department’s response will be presented to the City Council as part of its ongoing review of police oversight and policy implementation.