That wasn’t so hard

For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been seeing Chico police officers downtown, during the day, on foot and on bicycles. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen boots on the ground like this and it’s a welcome sight.

Most of the disruption in the region appears to be the result of a handful of troublemakers. However, there’s no doubt that many members of the public as well as businesspeople feel safer with the police presence, especially when the officers actually integrate into the community, rather than simply driving by in their cars.

One of the bonuses of the current arrangement is that the officers are working downtown as part of their regular shifts. In other words, taxpayers aren’t paying them the rumored double-time or double-overtime “incentive pay” to patrol the business district.

We want to give credit where credit is due, so we’re going to start at the top. City Manager Mark Orme promised to make the patrols happen despite opposition from the leadership of the Chico Police Officers’ Association who said the department was too understaffed. Police Chief Kirk Trostle deserves credit, too, since he stepped up and made some changes to the structure of patrols, freeing up a couple of officers for the assignment.

And to the officers who are downtown, thank you for your service. This proactive approach to making the area safer is much appreciated.