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| There's a lot of talk about the Chico Police these days.
The news reports depict an unusual rash of shootings. Opposition to the
"party ordinance" erroneously portray the police as trying to quash Chico's
good times. And a staggering budget deficit is at least partly attributable
to good pay and benefits enjoyed by our city's emergency service personnel.
So when offered a chance to do a ride-along with the police I jumped at
the
opportunity. I wanted to learn more about the newsworthy organization. Chico police officer Jim Parrott, a CPOA board member, offered the opportunity after reading this blog. If I had to describe Jim I'd say he's a tall guy, dresses in blue, and carries a gun (at work anyway). He's probably tall when off duty as well. I ran into Jim the night before at the Council meeting and offered to bring my own gun and uniform for the ride-along. He didn't think that would be necessary. That was probably good because the only uniform I had was a Jedi costume from last Halloween. Yesterday afternoon we headed out on patrol and toured the mean streets of Chico. I like to think of it as the Chico beat. I was ready to mix it up with some of the gun play our town's becoming famous for. What I experienced was quite the opposite and much more compelling. I watched Jim handle the police car while deftly accessing a computer terminal mounted on the dash. He exchanged messages with dispatch over the computer while receiving cell calls from a couple having a bad breakup. He had been dispatched to deal with them a week earlier, and was now acting as an intermediary to prevent the disagreement from escalating into a similar event. He said the effort was typical of attempts to keep people from getting into a situation where they might be arrested. A half dozen phone calls later and it was clear to me that he was now the authority figure that these people vented their emotions through. Later that night a call came in reporting an accident at CSU Chico near the dorms. When we arrived on scene it was determined that nobody was hurt but that the wet streets had caused a collision damaging four cars (two were parked). A photographer and reporter from the Orion showed up, not knowing they'd been scooped by CI's scrappy reporter. The young college aged drivers, still shocked from the crash, gravitated towards the two police officers present. The young people, not far from their parents nest, seemed to be seeking stability in their shook up world. The relaxed attitudes of the officers were providing that. But it was our first call that had a touch of Mayberry and created a stark dichotomy between the recently reported shootings and the life most of us experience in Chico. A call from a local market indicated a 12 year-old shoplifter was being detained by the store owner. On arrival the store owner, detainee, and the kid's dad were present. The kid lived in the neighborhood and had been allegedly pilfering for a while, and was finally nabbed. He took a single soda. I watched as Jim, the store owner, and the dad, worked in tandem to drive home the reasons why a life of crime was not the way to go. This was a play put on where everyone knew their role. But it was the guy in uniform that took the lead. He was the threat to keep you on the right path, and the opportunity for a second chance. The boy was released to his dad, and there's hope he can eventually re-enter society. An early parole is not expected. I think Jim felt a little bad that the night wasn't more lively. But in the five hours we rode together we talked about a lot of things, I saw how and where the police work, and got a feel for what our law enforcement does when they're not making the headlines. There was a common theme through all of the public interaction that I saw. Whenever the normal ebb and flow of society is interrupted we look for an authority figure. Often times that authority figure is the local police officer. When the social contract is broken we expect somebody to fix it. That's also the local police officer. I think an item on the last Council agenda is a perfect example of this. When multiple unconnected shootings occurred in Chico one of our City Council members made a pretty direct plea. Councilor Tom Nickell asked the police chief to provide a "Plan of Action" to solve the problem. This is a nearly impossible task for the police to perform. Random violent acts tethered together by the calendar are not controllable. And yet they got the call anyway. It's understandable that many of us complain about the cops. We usually run across them after driving too fast, or we find that they've left a nice note on our windshield because we've parked without paying. But when push-comes-to-shove we all pick up the phone and call 911. We do that with the expectation that that the police will show up. And they do. I try to say thanks to people around town that I see in a military uniform. That stems from my time in the military. I'm going to make an effort to say thanks to our local law enforcement officers from now on. And I think other people should consider doing the same. |
| Notes: I'll be writing at least
a couple more blog posts on my impressions from this excursion. I'm also
committed to going on another ride-along on a weekend night. I think it's
important
to understand
the more difficult side of local police work. There's a tug-of-war between the cost of law enforcement in our community and budgetary priorities. Our police are well paid, well equipped, and well trained. The CPOA, a union, will unapologetically work towards increasing that funding. Dealing with the competing interests of conserving taxpayer money and ensuring law enforcement is effective lies at the heart of good public policy. Our civic leaders need to be clear about what they want from law enforcement. Equivocating and meandering suggestions that budgetary decisions come from the public through a charrette is not the kind of leadership our community needs. And it doesn't communicate to local law enforcement the nature of how we expect them to police our community. |
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CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Gregg 'Dillwad' Payne, see comments below for answer. |
The Chico Beat
33 Comments
Lon
About Me: Fasten your seatbelts for an exhilarating trip through Chico's public policy; I guarantee it's marginally better than public access TV.
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but there aren't even comments yet. how is it possible?!?!? I didn't even get a chance... I was going to guess Waffle Iron....
Hey Trevor,
Sorry about that. That's the second time I've done that... lack of sleep. When I started including the Humane Society adoption image I began using my previous posts as a template and inserting text and the main image. This means that if I don't clear out the previous winner it shows up in the post. I'll try to be more diligent.
It is not a waffle iron. Hmmm... waffles.
Lon
lol. just caught me off guard, I just got to work, and opened up CI, and there was no new post, so I tinkered around a little, and came back, refreshed, and lo and behold, after reading through your post, there was already a winner, but no message post.
Is it part of the communications setup in a police car?
OK How about a control panel to select different sirens and alarms.
ohhh yeah. I agree with Gregg.
LOL. Is it a doggy electrical collar control?
Looks like the squad car control panel for the overhead light bar, plus the siren. "Yelp" is setting I know of for sirens.
In fact, here is a full sized photo of the siren control head made by Whelan
http://www.whelen.com/images/Sirens_and_Switches/CenCom_Gold/cencom_gold.png
yeah Anthony, I would say that is it.
As I look at this more, its not just lights and siren, it appears to have functions for radio, video cameras, and other things. Perhaps its more of a panel for all electronic systems on the police vehicle.
Looks like the controls of a taser gun,maybe?
All right you blow hards...
Since I risked my life for this blog post I'm not declaring a winner (if one does exist) until I get some comments on it.
Lon
Ok. Since you insist on us commenting on the post, here we go.
I have had a lot of experience dealing with the coppicemen in this town, some good, some bad... But after everything I still believe in them. I totalled a car on 99 a long time ago when I was going to Butte College, and they were there almost instantly. Not just CHP, but Chico Police as well. They gave me a ride back to my house. I know a few people on the police force, one guy I went through HS with. Leftkowitz I believe is his last name.
I also got about 8 tickets in a 3 year span, so I recognize quite a few of them. ;-)
also, as far as the "Party Ordinance" goes, I think it would be a good idea, would help keep things in check, like Halloween-even though they shut that down pretty well a few years ago.- as well as Labor Day, Graduation Weekend, all the days/holidays that I make sure to avoid downtown like a disease riddled dog. St. Patricks day... *cringe in fear*
Hey I said "police car".
Actually what struck me the most was that this was exactly the sort of thing a politician would be doing. Except you aren't making a big deal out of it.
Trevor,
You are a saint. I feel like I can take off my bullet proof vest now (I made it out of plywood before the ride-along).
Lon
Are we going to have to start calling you Robo Cop? Or are you engineering one in the back room at work?
Anthony,
First you imply that I'm acting like a politician, and then you imply that my blog is no big deal? I'll have to keep an eye on you...
Ladies and gentlemen, I need to anounce that Anthony's blog got ~37,000 hits last month. That's 6x more than the closest competitor. Nice job bloggeroo.
Lon
PS. I'm not sure what the "police car" reference is, I didn't edit your comments.
Steve,
I've been called worse. I expect to be called worse again.
Lon
How bout a Disc Golfing Robo Cop? Now, I'll buy that for a dollar.
Yes Sir!
I think we should give every one of them a huge bonus and create a new holiday in their honor.
Thank you all!
Gregg Stephan Payne:
6' 4" 220 lbs. 48, caucasian, red hair, hazel eyes, may be seen driving a turquoise '58 Chevy pickup or a White '84 BMW 633.
; )
Why Robo-cop when you can do Judge Dredd. I AM THE LAW.
There was one time I went in to contest a ticket for a stop sign that I didn't run, and I lost... but the coppiceman that was standing at the door to the court room here in Chico, basically laughed in my face and called me an idiot on my way out, and that kinda stung... and it also reflects badly on whichever dept that guy was in. But for every couple good ones there is always the egg that isn't quite bad, but could use some improvements. At least in my opinion.
My younger brother recently attempted to join the training program for the police force, and got denied... he won't tell me why, I'm thinking he either failed the drug test or told him he has a bad knee, which he doesn't...
Gregg,
You're a dillwad, but you did win the challenge. It's the controls for a police car's lights and sirens.
Lon
Trevor,
Serves you right for lying about running the stop sign and having a stoner crippled brother :)
I AM THE LAW... on this blog... unless the E-R shuts me down.
Lon
oops, I have no idea how it got that got double posted...
*hands in internets license*
"You're a dillwad..." just what is that anyway?
Reminds me of this guy:
http://www.wneg32.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WNEG/HTMLPage/NEG_HTMLPage&c=HTMLPage&cid=1031776632799
He's at one of my client TV stations, and is a cross between Morris Taylor and Bill O'Rielly.
Anthony,
I actually had to look it up at the Urban Dictionary to make sure it didn't have some unknown (to me) racial or gender connotation.
It means idiot. Of course when I call Gregg names it comes from a place of deep respect, love, and gratitude.
Lon
awww... that makes me sad... hehe.
why would the ER shut you down?
Because I used the word "dillwad"?
Lon
That is so elementary school. hahah... the ER are putz's anyway.
I used to deliver newspapers for them. did it for 6 months before I realized that I wasn't going to start making money... and then the month after i quit they roll out the pay by mail system...
(collections were impossible, specially after being up from 11PM to 8AM delivering to half of chico. go home, crash, wake up repeat. on collection days you don't get any sleep.)
Trevorino,
Just for the record I was just kidding about "dillwad" being a problem. It's not a swear word or anything vulgar and I'm not sure the E-R bothers worrying about that kind of stuff.
I like the people at the E-R and have met a bunch of the reporters, the editor, and publisher. They're all nice folks. And I think it's cool that they started and pay for these blogs.
But most importantly I submitted an "application" to write a family based article. I haven't heard back from them and I don't know if they've made their selections, but if I get selected I hope that doesn't make me a putz.
BTW I delievered papers for the E-R after college while starting my business. So I feel your pain.
Lon
lol, no, I know a lot of the people there are good people. But back when I worked there, they had a lot of messed up stuff going on in the collections dept.
I know you were kidding about the dillwad comment.
And no, writing articles won't make you a putz.
Judge, Jury and Commissioner ...AAAddrrrriannnnnn.