Guest Opinion | Councilmember Rick Cole: A Threat to our Lives, Our Liberty and Our Pursuit of Happiness

What happens when those with the authority to enforce the law become lawless themselves?

“Who guards the guardians?” is a question that goes back to the days of the ancient Roman Republic. Even as we mark 250 years of independence, the Federal government has unleashed a campaign of organized terror designed to impose martial lawlessness.

Genuine conservatives used to fiercely oppose any intrusion of a Federal police force on local communities. Now MAGA followers cheer a vastly expanding militarized force of masked and heavily armed troopers roaming our streets and arbitrarily questioning, threatening and seizing our neighbors.

This week alone, they killed a young mother in Minneapolis and shot two people in Portland.

Is it any wonder that Americans are increasingly seeking to hold these marauders in check? What exactly does the spirit of ’76 mean if we tolerate what the signers of the Declaration could not: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people . . . He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures . . . He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.”

Because the “He” in our case is Donald Trump, not George III, is the threat to our inalienable rights any less grave?

This week in Pasadena, an ICE agent was spotted in our community. His movements were tracked by peaceful members of a “community defense rapid response team.” He sought assistance from our Police Department. In seeking to sort out the circumstances, one of our Sergeants cited one of those observers for failure to cooperate with her. It’s fair to give the benefit of the doubt to both our police sergeant and the observer, Jose Madera, who is a highly respected community leader. What exactly happened is now the subject of an investigation into the allegations of the ICE agent as well as the actions of the observer and our officer. 

That’s how laws should work. We are all humans and can make mistakes, but no one is above the law. Engraved into the entryway of our Pasadena Police Headquarters are the mottos of “the Pasadena Way: “We exist to serve the community.” “We are firm but fair.” “How we get the job done is just as important as getting the job done.” “We believe in the personal touch.”

Those words are not just slogans. The Pasadena Way is meant to be lived every day, an ethic of responsibility upheld by our local law enforcement officers. It is a pact between our community and those entrusted with being its guardians. It’s how local policing is supposed to work and a model for law enforcement anywhere and everywhere.

Generations of Americans have fought and died here and abroad to protect our rights against arbitrary authority and state-sponsored violence. To protect our lives, our liberties and our pursuit of happiness, our nation’s founders pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honors. We owe them a debt – as well as an obligation to our children and grandchildren — to do no less when “any form of government becomes destructive of those ends.”

No kings.

Rick Cole represents District 2 on the Pasadena City Council.