California Chief Unveils Plans to Overhaul Department

Chief of police for the Pasadena (CA) Police Department says he wants to enact a plan he has devised to make the agency more effective.

Chief John Perez—with more than 30 years in law enforcement and 18 months into his stint as the agency's leader—told PasadenaNow he wants to address several stubborn problems by placing six-officer teams led by a lieutenant into specific areas of the community.

Perez says that a big part of the effort is decentralizing the decision-making process and empowering lieutenants and their teams to deal with problems directly.

"I want each one of our lieutenants to be the experts in their missions, in the delivery of services and strategies, and to really analyze," Perez said. "And we can’t do that if our managers, our lieutenants who are very experienced, are doing different work or too much administrative work, where they can’t get to analyzing the problems with their sergeants."

According to Perez, a key to better police response and better communication in the community is keeping officers working the same streets consistently.