New Police Chief Harris Files New Year’s Day Operations Memorandum Third Day on Job

On his third day on the job, Pasadena Police Chief Eugene Harris filed a memo reporting on the 2023 New Year’s and Rose Bowl Game Operations. 

The memo said that the lead federal agency and coordinator for this year’s operations was the U.S. Secret Service.

“The USSS was the liaison between several federal agencies supporting the event operations by providing uniformed and non-uniformed officers and explosive detection canines – the combined federal agencies supplied 220 federal law enforcement officers to the Parade and Rose Bowl game,” Harris’s memo said.

Harris attended the Rose Parade for the first time on Jan 2. He took of the Department the following day.

The Pasadena Police Department coordinated the deployment of over 1,200 law enforcement officers from State, County, and local law enforcement agencies.

Pasadena Police officers and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies conducted foot and vehicle patrols along the entire parade route. Additionally, the Pasadena Police Department deployed Urban Police Rifles (UPRs) at the Rose Parade turnstiles in the secure zone. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department also deployed UPRs along the parade route as a visible deterrence and to mitigate any potential threats.

The deployment of a substantial number of federal personnel was a consequence of Pasadena’s New Year events having been classified as a SEAR Level-1 operation, Chief Harris said. SEAR, for Special Event Assessment Rating, is a system of categorizing the security threat level during a special event.

Harris’ report also stressed that this year’s attendance at the Rose Bowl Game reportedly reached up to 94,873 fans, the largest attendance so far, exceeding last year’s.

“Once again, California Highway Patrol’s Special Response Team armed with UPRs provided additional uniformed law enforcement presence at the entry gates and redeployed to the field after the game without UPRs for field security,” Harris’ memo said. “With over 94,000 people in attendance, there were only six arrests throughout the game – one for misdemeanor sexual battery and five for public intoxication.”

The City and the Tournament of Roses utilized Archer 1200 Barriers to close the parade route to vehicle traffic, the memo said. The barriers are manufactured by a local company.

These barriers are the only anti-vehicle device rated by the Department of Homeland Security as effective vehicle mitigation. Meridian, the provider of these devices, began to deploy the barriers in the middle of December, staging them at the intersections for deployment to close Colorado Blvd.

Other City Department Also Recapped Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game Operations

Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin also reported this year’s Rose Parade and Game as “undoubtable successes” in terms of how the Fire Department cooperated with other City agencies to be able to respond fast to any emergency. Augustin said his staff made it a point to be able to attend emergency response briefings for additional knowledge.

“Leading up to the events, our Operations, EMS and Fire Prevention teams developed and reviewed plans, issued permits, and carried out various life safety inspections at multiple venues to ensure public safety,” Augustin said.

This year, Pasadena Fire Department and its partners committed 71 personnel to the Rose Bowl Game, 87 personnel assigned to the Rose Parade, 31 Personnel assigned to the post parade Floatfest. The Rose Parade produced over 100 patient contacts with seven resulting in ALS (advanced life support) transport to a local hospital.

Pasadena’s Acting Director of the Public Health Department also submitted his report about the New Year festivities to the City Manager, saying his department’s accomplishments.

“Starting in October 2022, the Pasadena Public Health Department began bi-weekly briefings for Tournament of Roses and Rose Bowl staff on trends in COVID-19 data and offering guidance to protect against COVID-19 for community members, staff, volunteers, and visitors,” Dr. Manuel Carmona said. “Over the last month, the Pasadena Public Health Department reviewed applications and issued health permits for the Parade, Rose Bowl Game, Decorating Places, Bandfest, and Floatfest. During the holiday weekend, the Department completed 131 inspections to ensure safe food handling at events.”

Public Health Department staff also joined the Police Department as they conducted unpermitted vendor enforcement. Eight unpermitted hot dog carts were asked to leave. All vendors complied and no citations were issued. Staff spent time educating the vendors on the requirements to obtain a Public Works Sidewalk Permit and a Health Permit.