We, the undersigned individuals, perturbed by recent events, call upon you, our elected officials, to safeguard the trustworthiness of the Pomona Police Department necessary to the functioning of a law enforcement agency and a city by creating an independent oversight body with the power to investigate complaints of abuse, mistreatment, misconduct, negligence, and error, and to discipline officers and other employees found to have been involved in such betrayals of the public’s trust and confidence.

The 2015 beating of then-sixteen-year-old Christian Aguilar, highly publicized due to its being recorded by a bystander, has shaken the public’s confidence that the Pomona Police Department will not use unnecessary force against unarmed minors peacefully exercising their rights to observe and document the activities of public servants on duty. The fact that the beating occurred during the Los Angeles County Fair, which is the yearly attraction drawing the greatest number of visitors from outside the city, is cause for alarm not only for residents of the city but for the entire region. Graver yet, and deeply undermining the trust the Police Department has worked for years to establish, is the role of Internal Affairs in the coverup of the beating. This Internal Affairs officer stands charged with obstruction of justice and awaits trial at the end of this month in federal court.

If investigations by Internal Affairs and the disciplinary recommendations in which they result are the sole means by which officers are held to account for civil rights violations, policy violations, criminal activity, and other misconduct, then to whom are citizens to turn when Internal Affairs is itself involved in misconduct and criminal behavior?

Many other jurisdictions so afflicted have turned to civilian oversight as a path toward reconciliation, the restoration of trust, and the establishment of justice. Often, these reforms have been undertaken in the wake of tragic deaths of youth and people of color, such as those of Tyisha Miller in Riverside, whose death led to the Community Police Review Commission, and Irvin Landrum in Claremont, where the community now enjoys a Police Commission. The LAPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are each overseen by their respective Offices of Inspectors General. We also note that the 2017-2018 Civil Grand Jury highlighted the lack of civilian oversight in 46 of the 48 jurisdiction it analyzed, including Pomona, as “an issue of great concern.”

We should consider ourselves fortunate that, while there have been unjust police killings in the past, in this case the young victim survives. And although the beating and resulting scandal have been a tragedy for our community, they have also afforded us the opportunity to engage in collective reflection about what happened, and how such incidents can be avoided in the future, or if they do occur, that systems of accountability are in place to ensure that violators are required to take responsibility for their actions.

It is in this spirit of reconciliation, of healing, of the restoration of trust in a vital city department, whose members frequently risk (and occasionally lose) their lives, that we put forth this request that our city leaders improve our police department and our city as a whole.

Respectfully Submitted,