Category: Policing

City Council: Arm the park rangers

Bidwell Park rangers will carry guns and receive police training
by Dave Waddell | Posted September 6, 2017

photo by Leslie Layton

Councilor Randall Stone voted in opposition.

Bidwell Park’s three rangers will begin carrying guns and taking their orders from the Chico Police Department as a result of a plan approved Tuesday night by the City Council.

The conservative majority of the council held sway in the 4-2 vote, with council members Ann Schwab and Randall Stone in the minority and Karl Ory absent.

“You can’t convince me this is anything but a revenue grab for the Police Department from the Public Works Department,” Stone said. “The park is the perpetual whipping boy … to placate a Police Department that needs to grow.”

Councilor Reanette Fillmer, while discussing increased dangers in the park, surprised some at the meeting by announcing that “now rape is a non-violent crime in the state of California.” (Rape by force has been and continues to be a violent felony in this state, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.) read more

Chico buys guns for cops to own

City’s gun-buying escalated with Down Range
by Dave Waddell | Posted August 6, 2017

photo by Karen Laslo
Down Range Indoor Training Center sign

In the last three years alone, the financially strapped city of Chico has paid out nearly $25,000 to buy at least 40 guns of undisclosed types for the personal ownership of its police officers, according to a search of online records by ChicoSol.

Such gun transactions – made possible by a $900 per year “uniform allowance” afforded to all of the Chico Police Department’s more than 90 “sworn personnel” – skyrocketed with the advent of the Down Range Indoor Training Center three years ago.

Down Range, which is outside city limits along Highway 99 on the northern entrance to Chico, is known for boldly advertising the sale of assault rifles, especially around some holidays. The business is co-owned by Chico police officer Steve Dyke and has been gaining a bigger slice of Chico PD’s gun-buying pie each year. read more

Man killed downtown by Chico cop

Second fatal police shooting in four months
by Dave Waddell | Posted July 24, 2017

For the second time in four months, a man has been shot dead by Chico police.

An officer fired his weapon at the unidentified white man inside Mid Valley Title and Escrow in the 600 block of Main Street in downtown Chico shortly after 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

According to Chico police Lt. Billy Aldridge, a man had wounded two police officers and a private security guard with an undisclosed weapon. The officers were treated and released at Enloe Medical Center, while the guard received a “significant” wound.

In the Police Department’s initial statement released this morning, the names of the man killed, the security guard and the officers involved were not divulged. Aldridge said that an investigation of the incident that was started by Chico PD had been turned over to the Butte County Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Team headed up by District Attorney Mike Ramsey. read more

No sergeant at scene of Phillips killing

Young cops entered home after 'no de-escalation' measures
by Dave Waddell | Posted July 18, 2017

photo by Dave Waddell
photo of Desmond Phillips

 

The Chico police sergeant who gave the green light to sending two relatively inexperienced cops after mentally ill Desmond Phillips with their guns drawn was nowhere near the Phillips residence at the time.

According to computer-assisted dispatch reports obtained by David Phillips, Desmond’s father, and made available to ChicoSol, Sgt. Todd Lefkowitz did not get to the scene until 14 minutes after he was first dispatched and eight minutes after Desmond, a 25-year-old black man, was gunned down by police. Lefkowitz arrived at 7:41 p.m. on March 17, or at approximately the same time the mortally wounded Desmond was carted out of his home and taken to Enloe Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead with a grievous heart wound. read more

Timeline backs student’s retaliation claim

DA’s probe tracked missing phone all over Chico
by Dave Waddell | Posted July 10, 2017
Madeline Hemphill

photo by Bianca Quilantan

Madeline Hemphill points to the bush along the Esplanade where she says she was “tackled” by a Chico police officer.

While ruling out officer involvement in a missing cell phone mystery, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey also has disclosed details to ChicoSol that bolster a student’s claim of retaliation by Chico police.

Chico State senior Madeline Hemphill has maintained that five minutes or less elapsed between an initial confrontation with officer Steve Dyke and her arrest in front of her nearby residence. Chico Police Chief Mike O’Brien, in contrast, issued a press statement two days after the Aug. 27, 2016, incident indicating a gap of 28 minutes between the two encounters.

At ChicoSol’s request, Ramsey looked into the time discrepancy. The district attorney said dispatch records reveal that Dyke, at 2:07 a.m., drove away from a sobriety check that Hemphill had been filming on the Esplanade with her phone, while Hemphill and her roommate, Nicole Braham, were arrested just three minutes later, at 2:10. read more