The Chico City Council approved the police department budget and use of military weapons earlier in April 2023, weapons that were obtained under the U.S. Department of Defense 1033 program.
Recent California statutes require the police department hold at least one community engagement meeting to discuss the purchase and deployment of these military-style weapons.
During the only “meet the community” on April 27, which was called to review the Chico Police Department’s use of military obtained weapons in Chico, Police Chief Billy Aldridge repeatedly called the use of these weapons a way to de-escalate a given situation.read more
Deadline for returning the “Essential City Services” survey is April 22.
by Leslie Layton posted April 21
A mailer from the City of Chico with a survey to be returned by April 22 is a piece in a three-phase campaign to win support for a city-wide 1 percent sales tax. The survey asks city residents to rank their spending priorities in order of importance.
Chico is one of about eight “full-service” cities in the state that don’t have a local sales tax; it receives a small portion of state sales tax revenue only. Full-service cities provide public safety and other services.
ChicoSol was contacted by several readers when the Essential City Services survey began appearing in mailboxes earlier this month. The Chicoans said they didn’t know they were about to be surveyed and were confused by the mailer, which was signed by Matt Madden, Chico police chief who was then interim city manager.read more
Retired police officer Mike Summers of West Sacramento addressed a crowd of about a hundred people Thursday evening at a community workshop on Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training at Chico’s First Christian Church. Summers is an advocate of the so-called Memphis Model of de-escalation, which he said resulted in a dramatic decrease in officer-involved shootings in the Tennessee city beginning in the late ‘80s.
Summers said law enforcement officers are typically trained at police academies to exhibit a “command presence,” which doesn’t always work well in dealing with the mentally ill. Thursday’s event was hosted by Crisis Care Advocacy and Triage in the wake of the killing of Desmond Phillips, a mentally ill young black man who was shot 11 times by Chico police on March 17. ChicoSol will publish a follow-up story on the Phillips shooting on June 17. -- photo and story by Dave Waddell.
Some rangers are not interested in undergoing police training.
by Steve Breedlove
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face forever” – George Orwell.
At this moment, Chico’s unelected city bureaucrats are in the process of moving Park Rangers into the Police Department, arming them and sidelining their function as naturalists and stewards of our recreational commons. Apparently, “broken windows” enforcement of minor infractions is the preferred method of addressing very real and material social problems.
In a public hearing (April 24 Parks Commission), the assistant city manager tried to deflect the dissent of citizens in attendance, advising us that the Council had not approved it. Curiously, he also argued it was imperative to set Police Academy dates this calendar year.read more
