Pasadena Police Department

If the Pasadena Police Department has arrested or is investigating you, a family member or a loved, you need to know the bail amount (if any) associated with the offense (if an own recognizance (OR) release is denied), the legal and factual requirements to convict one for the crime or crimes that allegedly took place, the defenses possible and the sentence a judge can impose if one is convicted of the crime. 

 
We at Greg Hill & Associates believe it is also wise to know a few more things before interacting with any branch of law enforcement.  It can be valuable, to know the size of the police or sheriff’s department, the city’s demographics, the most frequent types of crime the department investigates and just a bit about the city’s history to make one’s communication with law enforcement more meaningful, more savvy and perhaps, more respectful.  This can lead to a better outcome than if one lacks such perspective.

This article is presented with this goal in mind.

The Pasadena Police Department has 241 sworn police officers, 126 civilian employees and 13 reserve officers, making it one of the largest police departments in Los Angeles County.  This makes sense because it spans over 23.11 square miles and has 138,699 residents, as of the 2020 U.S. Census.  It is one of the biggest cities in Los Angeles County.

Pasadena is perhaps most well-known for being the home of the Rose Bowl, both as one of the oldest original college football bowl games, but also as a venue to concerts, UCLA football home games and professional soccer games.  The Rose Parade on January 1 each year is also famous for Pasadena and is televised world-wide.

Pasadena has a history of being a very rich area in certain parts of the city and very poor in others.  It is the home of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which sits in former hotel along the Arroyo Grande and just about a mile from the Rose Bowl.

Pasadena is also the home of Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech).  Muir High School also is located in Pasadena.  It is one of the premier athletic powerhouses in Los Angeles County.

As of the 2010 census, the racial makeup of Pasadena was 55.8% White (down from 70.4% in 1970), 10.7% African American, (down from 19.0% in 1990), 14.3% Asian, and 33.7% Hispanic or Latino. 

During 2015–2019, Pasadena had a median household income of $83,068, with 14.5% of the population living below the federal poverty line. For people ages 25 and over, 88.3% had a high school degree or higher while 52.3% had a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Greg Hill lived in Pasadena during most of his three years of law school, so he got to know the city well.

Over the last 26 years, our office has handled dozens (if not 100) of criminal cases out of Pasadena, ranging from DUI’s, to prostitution, to residential burglary, to sex offenses, to shoplifting and domestic violence. 

Pasadena Latin Kings, or PLK, is a predominately Mexican American street gang in the City of Pasadena.  The PLK was formed by Jose Luis “Snapper” Torres-Sanchez (1971 – 1993) around 1987 in the northwest section of Pasadena on the border with Altadena.  Mr. Sanchez was born in Mexico and immigrated to California with his parents when he was 7-years old.  Sanchez was shot and killed on February 15, 1993 in Los Angeles at the age of 21.

PLK is located in the neighborhood where North Lake Avenue and Washington Blvd intersect. Their closest geographic rival would be the Villa Boys, a predominately Hispanic street gang also located in Pasadena.  They are also rivals with Varrio Pasadena Rifa. 

 
The Villa Boys are among the few gangs in Pasadena that had a gang injunction filed against them during the late 1990’s. The then police chief later publicly stated that the gang injunction was not an effective strategy, and the City has not been a big supporter of the gang injunction process.

For more information about being arrested and possibly facing a criminal case, please click on the following articles:

Below is the Google Map to the Pasadena Police Department.