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May 11, 2022
RE: Pasadena Police Department Operating Budget FY 2023 Dear Mayor Gordo, Pasadena City Council Members, and Public Safety Committee Members, As a collective ofPasadenans striving for justice and equality in our City, we write to urge you to modify the Pasadena Police Department's Operating Budget before adopting it due to crucial issues that can no longer be ignored.
1) Move the Function and Funding of the Homeless Outreach Psychological Evaluation Team (HOPE) and Neighborhood Action Team (NAT) from the Police Department to the Public Health Department.
Addressing quality of life issues and providing direct links to housing, mental health, and substance use services are Public Health issues, nof policing issues.
In Fiscal Year 2021, PPD responded to 5,766 calls for service related to unhoused people and 1,994 calls for service related to mental health.' Unarmed, fully trained, experienced mental health responders and social workers, no/police officers, are needed for these calls.
Shifting the function and funding of these programs to the Public Health Department creates the opportunity to employ evidence-based Public Health practices to better serve community members and decrease the potential for bad outcomes. Further, it frees up police officers to focus on responding to actual crimes.
Evidence supports the fact that trained, unarmed, mental health professionals are capable of safely handling the many calls for service related to mental health. A 2019 report showed that out of 24,000 crisis assistance calls for service, police back-up was only requested 150 times or 0.6% of the time.2 The cost savings for such programs compared to police officer involvement are substantial, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. Furthermore, considering the 2016 study which showed that 20-50% of fatal encounters with law enforcement involved an individual with a mental illness, having trained mental health professionals, instead of police officers, respond to mental-health-related calls for service can prove to be life-saving.3
2) Fund a Third-Party, Independent Audit of The Pasadena Police Department Budgets.
During the May 2021 budget hearings for Fiscal Year 2022, PPD publicly reported that it had $2.3 million in Operating Budget "savings." The Council subsequently approved PPD's request to use this reported excess of General Fund appropriations to remodel the Police Department building and to replace PPD's mobile command center, despite pushback from community members.
In January of 2022, The City of Pasadena Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report noted over $4.5 million of savings in PPD's General Fund expenditures as compared to the budget.
However, on March 14th, 2022, Staff noted that die Fiscal Year 2021 PPD Operating Budget savings "were never realized." The Council then "unappropriated" $1 million in General Fund appropriations for PPD's building remodel.
Why are we funding PPD so much that they are reporting savings while other departments are lacking critical resources? What happened to these reported savings? Is it in our community's best interest to increase funding to the Police Department without addressing these issues? Councilmembers, much like the Rose Bowl Operating Company and the Rose Bowl debt, you cannot continue to turn a blind eye to such discrepancies.
General Funds could be utilized in ways that directly improve Pasadenans' quality of life and safety by our Public Health, Housing and Parks, Recreation & Community Services Departments.
Please do not give PPD carte blanche again this Fiscal Year despite glaring concerns regarding their stewardship over the nearly 100 million dollars in operating funds we invest into this department annually.
Fund a thorough. Third Party, tmly independent, financial audit of the Police Department's budgets. At best, you will find that the lofty monetary investments made are fulfilling their stated purpose. At worst, you will find that funds are being mishandled, and be able to correct such mishandling and re-appropriate funds for much-needed community programs and services.
Thank you for your careful consideration of this letter.
Respectfully Submitted,
The B.R.E.A.T.H.E. Justice 365 Team
A Pasadena-based collective of physicians, attorneys, clergy, educators and everyday people striving for equality.
References
1. Pasadena Police Department Response to Public Records Act Request #16336. (August 4, 2021).
2. What is CAHOOTS? (2020). https://whitebirdclmic.org/what-is-cahoots/
3. DeGue, S., Fowler, K., Calkins, C. (2016). Deaths Due to Use of Lethal Force by Law Enforcement Findings from the National Violent Death Reporting System, 17 U.S. States, 2009-2012. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. httDS://doi.ore/10.1016/i.ameDre.2016.08.027