Community Police Oversight Commission Meeting to be Canceled

The March 13 meeting of the Police Oversight Commission will be canceled.

But local residents will soon have a chance to hear from the new Police Oversight Commissioner Teresa Magula.

“After thoughtful consideration and discussion, we have decided to cancel our monthly meeting for March,” Chair Esprit Jones told Pasadena Now via email. “Our new Independent Police Auditor, Teresa Magula, is actively collaborating with City Staff, ad hoc groups, and the Police Department to ensure we effectively address the recommendations from Dr. Richard Rosenthal’s transitional report.”

Rosenthal left the job in January.

According to Jones, the commission will soon share details about two community meetings with Magula on March 26 at Robinson Park and April 1 at Villa Parke, respectively.

At her first Police Oversight Commission meeting last month, Magula outlined plans to launch a series of bilingual town hall meetings as part of a comprehensive strategy to strengthen community-police relations and increase public accessibility to oversight processes.

“I want to make myself available to the community,” Magula said in February. “While it’s important to incorporate the perspectives of the Police Department and the Commission, it’s equally important to hear from the people who live here.”

Magula, who brings over 17 years of oversight experience and holds a master’s degree in public policy with specialization in crime policy, was selected from 12 applicants following interviews with eight candidates by both the commission’s ad hoc committee and City Council representatives.

Her background includes significant work with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Office of the Inspector General, where she progressed from handling public complaints to reviewing critical incidents and officer-involved shootings. Representing the Office of Independent Review Group, a team of independent police practice experts, Magula emphasized her team’s extensive experience in police oversight.

Several major initiatives await her attention, including reviews of multiple officer-involved shootings, developing a mediation program for police complaints, analyzing pretext stops survey data, and implementing an early warning system to track potential risk factors among officers.