Police Chief Carries Pasadena’s Gang-Violence Reduction Record to a Chicago Conference

Police Chief Gene Harris served as a facilitator at the 29th annual International Gang Specialist Training Conference in Chicago, a three-day gathering of law enforcement officers, prosecutors, educators and gang intervention specialists from across the country.

The National Gang Crime Research Center held the conference Aug. 3 to 5 at the Westin Michigan Avenue Hotel, 909 N. Michigan Ave., with more than 100 sessions covering gang prevention, investigations, prosecution, violence intervention, school safety, probation and parole, victim services and community engagement, according to the City of Pasadena. The center, directed by George Knox, publishes the Journal of Gang Research and offers 30 recognized training areas, the newest covering services for gang crime victims, witnesses and survivors. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime listed the event while noting it is hosted by a third party and not sponsored by the office.

“Effective policing requires us to continually learn from one another,” Harris said.

Pasadena brings a record to that conversation. Confirmed and suspected gang shootings in the city fell from 31 in 2021 to two in 2025. There were six shootings in 2024, down 81% from the 2021 figure.

Much of that work sits with the Public Health Department rather than the Pasadena Police Department. The department was awarded $2,510,394 through the California Violence Intervention and Prevention program, funded by the state Board of State and Community Corrections, over three years running from July 2022 to June 2025. The program targets communities disproportionately affected by violence, particularly group member-involved homicides, shootings and aggravated assaults.

“Our goal is to help them make healthy choices, build positive self-perception,” said Manuel Carmona, then the deputy director of public health and now its director, when the grant was announced.

The city also contracts for street-level outreach. Ricky Pickens and his team have provided violence prevention and intervention services since January 2021, working through direct outreach, mediation and relationship-building in neighborhoods affected by gang incidents. The team logged 1,953 hours of service in the fourth quarter of 2024 and made 636 referrals to community partners over that reporting period, including 335 for job training, 92 for housing assistance, 57 for substance use treatment and 34 for mental health services.

In May the City Council approved an expanded contract with Pickens, adding $120,000 to General Fund appropriations for Fiscal Year 2026. Pickens called the expansion “an honor and a responsibility that we don’t take lightly.”

The arrangement dates to a 2020 spike, when shootings in Pasadena rose 59% and the city brought in an outside intervention team.