South Pasadena Municipal Code Art. IVB Public Safety Commission

There is hereby created a public safety commission of the city. At least two of the members should have a background in public safety. (Ord. No. 2187, § 2, 2009; Ord. No. 2236, § 1, 2012; Ord. No. 2352, § 1, 2021; Ord. No. 2406, § 12, 2025.)

The chief of police of the city and the chief of the fire department of the city shall be ex officio members of the public safety commission. They shall not have the power to vote. (Ord. No. 2187, § 2, 2009; Ord. No. 2352, § 1, 2021.)

The public safety commission shall hold regular meetings every other month on a date and time established by resolution. Special meetings, as necessary, may be called as provided for in Government Code Section 54956, or its successor statute. (Ord. No. 2279, § 1, 2014; Ord. No. 2352, § 1, 2021; Ord. No. 2406, § 13, 2025.)

Commission meetings shall serve as a forum for community discussion and make recommendations to the city council and the respective chiefs on policy regarding public safety matters, including emergency preparedness, to build upon strong community trust with the police and fire departments by promoting transparency, accountability, and information sharing with the community. The commission shall have the following powers and duties:

(a) To engage with the community by maintaining an ongoing dialogue with community members and community organizations.

(b) To review and comment on police and fire department policies, procedures, practices and to advise on the setting of goals for the departments that reflect community values.

(c) To review and comment on regular updates presented by the police chief and fire chief on the departments’ customer service programs, community-oriented programs, trends, statistics, and prevention programs.

(d) To review and monitor regular reported data, at least once a quarter, on police use of force, arrests, citations, field interviews, requests for service, and mutual aid requests, to the extent legally permitted.

(e) To review and monitor regular reported data, at least once a quarter, on fire, medical, rescue, collision and other calls for service, and mutual aid requests, to the extent legally permitted.

(f) To provide a forum to address concerns, complaints, and commendations regarding the police and fire departments and to receive progress reports on investigations and critical incidents, when legally possible.

(g) To review and provide recommendations on traffic and pedestrian safety and traffic enforcement.

(h) To review and provide recommendations on school and community care facility safety, such as the school resource officer, crossing guards, and outreach programs.

(i) To review and provide recommendations on disaster planning, emergency preparedness, crisis management, and public health emergencies.

(j) To review and comment on annual reports presented by the police chief and fire chief on the departments’ best practices, statistics, recruitment, training, retention, trends, and prevention initiatives. These annual reports will subsequently be presented to the city council with feedback and recommendations from the commission.

(k) To receive, review and comment on an annual report on homeless issues presented by the police chief after the annual homeless count takes place. (Ord. No. 2332, § 1, 2019; Ord. No. 2352, § 1, 2021.)