Pasadena Council Committee to Consider Formal Rules for Police Oversight Meetings

The Pasadena City Council’s Public Safety Committee will consider formal rules Wednesday that would require the Community Police Oversight Commission’s leadership to meet with police department officials at least twice each year.

The proposed regulations would formalize meetings between the commission’s chair and vice chair and the police chief and deputy chief, sessions that began informally in 2024 as a way to build rapport and foster collaboration between the oversight body and the department it monitors.

CPOC Commission Chair Esprit Jones submitted the recommendation to the committee, explaining that the regularly scheduled meetings would ensure consistent communication and collaboration between the Police Oversight Commission and the Pasadena Police Department, thereby strengthening the commission’s role and effectiveness in fulfilling its mission.

The commission unanimously voted on June 12, 2025, with one member absent, to adopt the rules and regulations regarding the biannual meetings between commission leadership and police department officials, according to the agenda report.

Under the proposed Article XIII of the commission’s rules, the meetings would take place between October and November and again between April and May each year, with participants including the commission chair, vice chair, Independent Police Auditor, oversight commission support staff, and the police chief and deputy chief.

Discussion topics during these formal gatherings would include the commission’s work plan and the topics addressed by its ad hoc committees, community outreach and education efforts, and strategies to further the commission’s purpose of enhancing and strengthening community-police relations.

The Pasadena Municipal Code requires that the commission’s rules and regulations receive final approval from the City Council before becoming effective, and the proposed action aligns with the council’s strategic planning goal of ensuring public safety.

Starting in 2024, commission leadership began meeting periodically with police department leadership to advance the commission’s objectives, including its mission to enhance and strengthen community-police relations, and during those discussions, both sides agreed that meeting on a standard basis would be productive.

If  approved by the Committee the proposal would advance to the full Council for final consideration/

The Public Safety Committee meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday in the City Council Chamber at City Hall.