Body Cameras for Pasadena Parking Officers Draw ‘Purchase First, Policy Later’ Pushback

City transportation officials are proposing body-worn cameras for parking enforcement officers as part of a broader plan to bring parking enforcement in-house, a proposal that drew immediate concerns from residents about surveillance, privacy and public oversight at a Municipal Services Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 12.

Joaquin Siques, director of the Department of Transportation, told the committee that parking enforcement officers have been physically assaulted “over the years” and are regularly yelled at by motorists receiving citations. He said the cameras are intended primarily as a de-escalation tool.

“While they do get de-escalation training, one of the tools that can be used to help de-escalate a situation is having that body-worn camera to be able to let the person that’s receiving the citation or the aggressor know that they are being recorded,” Siques said.

The $90,000 body-worn camera line item appears in the Department of Transportation’s Fiscal Year 2027 recommended operating budget as an unfunded General Fund enhancement request. It is tied to a larger Parking Division restructuring that would eliminate the city’s parking enforcement contract, hire 10 new Parking Enforcement Representatives, add a supervisor and senior representative, and expand to 24/7 coverage at a net General Fund cost of $600,000.

Siques said the department has met with the union representing parking enforcement representatives, which supports the cameras as a workplace safety measure. He told the committee no procurement has begun and that a proposed Department of Transportation body-worn camera use policy will return to the Municipal Services Committee in the fall before any purchase moves forward.

Public commenters pushed back. Resident Yadi called the proposal “another example of purchase first, policy later,” citing a prior city sell-side simulator purchase that nearly resulted in a lawsuit over a missing required policy. Yadi asked what problems the cameras would solve, what alternatives had been evaluated, and which other cities outfit parking staff with body-worn cameras.

A second resident urged the city not to budget for the cameras before public engagement on surveillance technology and asked the city to avoid vendors including Axon.

Councilmember Jason Lyon confirmed with staff that no cameras have been purchased and that the line item is strictly budgetary. Committee Chair Justin Jones told the committee the policy will be brought to the Municipal Services Committee before procurement.