I want a different sort of police force, one better educated and temperamentally more diverse. One way, namely mine, to get that better police force is to require at least a bachelor’s degree in the humanities, since mainly humans are involved. For the kind of money we pay cops we deserve more than just the training we pay for. And I’d require a master’s degree to carry a gun.
Now the Chico Police Department wants more expensive equipment,including command vehicles costing up to a half million dollars each, perhaps because having such machines will help them feel better. The Chico Police Department doesn’t need command vehicles or military-grade rifles. Nobody in Chico needs such things. People need food and shelter; the rest is optional. I think the CPD wants such things so it’ll feel better, safer, cozier.
As far as I can tell, police work isn’t especially dangerous, certainly not in Chico. The ONLY Chico police officer killed in the line of duty was Carleton J. Bruce, who was shot on February 22, 1938.
Last Monday runs the last Monday of the month. Read Anthony Peyton Porter’s “Hot Takes” here.