Month: December 2017

Chico PD to get pilot mobile crisis counselors

Mental health workers to aid cops 10 hours a day
by Dave Waddell | Posted December 20, 2017
Dorian Kittrell

A pilot project is in the works that will provide the Chico Police Department – criticized for its lack of crisis intervention efforts in the past – with two mobile mental health counselors to work alongside police officers 10 hours a day.

The program is described in a Nov. 27 memorandum, written by Butte County Department of Behavioral Health Director Dorian Kittrell to the county Board of Supervisors and obtained by ChicoSol.

Kittrell said his department is working on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chico PD to assign two full-time mental health workers to the pilot mobile crisis response team, which will operate seven days a week from about 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

“We are finalizing a non-financial, interagency MOU in December and then training and operational planning will be undertaken in January,” says Kittrell’s memo. “The goal is to roll out services for the project on, or around, Feb. 1.” read more

Sexual misconduct reports on rise at CSUC

Campus equity chief: More women coming forward
by Gabriel Sandoval | Posted December 8, 2017
Dylan Saake

As the nation reckons with a steady stream of stories about high-profile men accused of sexual misconduct, women are sharing their own stories on social media using the hashtag #MeToo.

The movement toward reporting and confronting sexual misconduct has for years been gaining momentum on college campuses. Today, many students are comfortable reporting sexual violence, says Dylan Saake, Chico State’s coordinator for compliance with the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX. To be in compliance, colleges must provide students safe learning environments, free of gender-based discrimination, and respond promptly and equitably if sexual misconduct is reported.

At Chico State, the number of reported cases of alleged sexual misconduct has increased more than 23 percent since last year. Its second-ever Title IX Activity Reporting report, published in October, shows Chico State received 53 reports of various kinds of sexual misconduct from July 1, 2016, to June 30, in contrast to 43 reports over the same period a year prior. read more

Chico cop defends ‘Black Friday Matters’ sign

Dyke claims Black Lives Matter promotes race violence
by Leslie Layton | Posted December 6, 2017

photo by Leslie Layton

Down Range co-owner and Vice President Steve Dyke

The billboard stating in white lettering on a black background, “Black Friday Matters,” was for Down Range Indoor Training Center co-owner Steve Dyke a clever piece of Black Friday marketing that placed his gun shop in the news and public eye.

That it played off the name of Black Lives Matter, an organization tackling the problem of deadly police shootings in black communities, was not problematic for Dyke, who is also an officer in the Chico Police Department. Dyke argues that Black Lives Matter is based on a “false narrative.”

But for many of the Chico-area residents who called the shop to protest the word play on Black Lives Matter as racist or otherwise offensive, the sign trivialized a movement fighting the use of lethal police force against residents of black communities. read more

Five reports to ‘Documenting Hate’

sidebar to "Chico cop defends 'Black Friday Matters' sign
by Leslie Layton | Posted December 6, 2017

The complaint about the Down Range “Black Friday Matters” billboard was one of five that has so far been submitted to the Documenting Hate database from Butte County. Four other reports were made on use of racist epithets and stereotyping.

Here’s a summary:

  • A flier at Chico State was defaced shortly after the 2016 presidential election with white supremacist symbols;
  • A Latina in Chico says she was called a “wetback;”
  • A Chico teacher reported that her son was riding his bike to school when a car pulled up next to him and someone shouted, “Fuck you, Jew boy.”
  • An Oroville man reported that someone was overheard saying of him, “That’s a Muslim right there.” On the report submitted to the database, the man wrote, “… I have never felt like I don’t belong here as I do now. Since the beginning of 2016, people look at me differently… I wish things were different.” In a telephone interview, the man said he has Arab ancestry, is a U.S. military veteran and was raised as a Christian. He asked not to be identified. He said the shift in how he’s perceived by strangers is hard to “quantify” but palpable.
    • read more