The Chico Police Department, after facing years of scrutiny over transparency and accountability concerns, has launched an effort to improve its community image.
Chico PD’s administration has within the last six months jump-started several efforts to improve its public image, announcing today the results of its Community Survey, which can be found here.
Chief Billy Aldridge, who assumed leadership in December 2022, has re-organized the department’s Police Community Advisory Board (PCAB) that the City says is “working to enhance communication and transparency.” The board’s formation follows years of pressure from community members who want improvement in the public’s ability to air concerns and grievances.read more
Reform leader sees ‘little or no progress’ changing Chico PD’s culture
By Dave Waddell | Posted February 24, 2023
photo by george gold
Jeremiah Lozada, 5, nephew of Gabe Sanchez, and Emily Alma on right.
Sign-carrying demonstrators who braved Wednesday evening’s freezing winds near City Hall to protest Chico police violence came in a wide range of ages.
They included Jeremiah Lozada, age 5, whose sign demanded justice for his uncle, Eddie “Gabe” Sanchez, who was killed before Jeremiah was born. Chico police Detective Mark Bass , now a sergeant, shot the fleeing Sanchez in 2015.
Standing near Jeremiah in a line of about 15 protesters at the corner of Fourth and Main streets was 81-year-old Emily Alma, a leader of Chico’s Concerned Community for Justice (CC4J), which organized the protest along with the group 40 Grandmothers.read more
‘3 Seconds in October’ documentary recounts 13-year-old’s shooting
By Dave Waddell | Posted September 13, 2022
From the “3 Seconds in October” documentary available on PBS KVIE.
I’d like to plug an important, disturbing and highly instructive film that gets at some little-known truths about police killings and is now available for viewing online: “3 Seconds in October: The Shooting of Andy Lopez.”
“3 Seconds in October” was produced and directed by Ron Rogers and is enhanced by Peter Coyote’s incomparable narrative voice. The 28-minute documentary recently received a regional Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Rogers’ film recounts the outrageous 2013 killing of 13-year-old Andy Lopez and its aftermath. Andy was walking down a Santa Rosa-area street carrying a toy replica of an assault rifle when shot by Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy Erick Gelhaus . After Gelhaus’ first bullet hit Andy in the heart, the deputy continued to shoot the boy “over and over and over again” as Andy fell and while he was on the ground.read more
Attending 'Memorial for the Fallen' for victims of police killings
By George Gold | Posted July 24, 2022
photo by Karen Laslo
At left, Gabriel Sanchez is now 17 and was only 10 when his father, Eddie Gabriel ‘Gabe’ Sanchez, was killed by Chico police. At right is Gabe Sanchez’s stepmother, Sheryl Sanchez.
While this great Smokey Robinson song isn’t directly related to the event held yesterday honoring some of the precious lives lost at the hands of the Chico Police Department, there were tears in the room as we listened to the parents, uncles, brothers and sisters tell stories of people who should be alive today.
If we could just get our police to grow some humanity and some skills in how to de-escalate difficult interactions between police and our neighbors, we might see some progress.
Police and de-escalation? So far, over the last 10 years, our police have not practiced and applied de-escalation techniques. Our police have not changed their tactics, they have not reduced their lethal weapons cache nor their apparent desire to use them. The last several Chico police chiefs claim that all Chico police officers have taken de-escalation training, but from the overwhelming evidence it is clear they have not learned how to apply their classroom training to their conduct in the field.read more
Memorial brings 7 families together on fifth anniversary of Tyler Rushing’s death
By Dave Waddell | Posted July 21, 2022
Paula Rushing with her late son Tyler
The year was 1976 and Paula Staben from Santa Paula was a senior child development major at Chico State. She lived off campus at Gordon Hall, an “all-girls dormitory.” As that year’s activities director for Alpha Chi, Paula frequented the sorority’s distinctive yellow house at the corner of Fourth and Orient streets. There, she coordinated events such as theme dinners and movie nights.
Paula completed her bachelor’s degree, returned to Ventura County, and married Scott Rushing, a real estate broker and property manager. She became mom to Tyler and, a couple of years later, to Hillary. She directed a preschool. She launched a 17-year public school teaching career after her children went off to school.read more
ChicoSol contributor Dave Waddell was honored today – on Freedom of Information Day – as a “transparency champion” for work that accessed public records related to three killings involving the Chico Police Department.
Waddell received the Freedom of Information Award in the small Print and Digital division for ChicoSol stories on the killings of Desmond Phillips, Tyler Rushing and Stephen Vest. The 37th annual James Madison Freedom of Information competition awards were presented today by the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California (SPJ) chapter.
SPJ noted that Waddell used records and police body-cam recordings “that he fought for under California public records law, to investigate the official accounts of the circumstances around all three deaths.read more
