by Jack
I’m pleased to report that Halloween rioting college town never happened. It was fairly quiet and orderly despite the thousands of people out for a good time. Other than busting a few college age kids that were falling down drunk, nothing much else happened. However, it still cost the City taxpayers $75,000 in overtime, $25k more than last year. I questioned this amount before Halloween too. It didn’t seem warranted.
Here’s a thought for our new Chief to consider: Sometimes placing too many officers on the street can be worse than not enough. Too many can attract party goers and aggitators who might be looking for a little extra excitement. New Orleans Police choose to keep a low profile. they have officers in reserve, if needed, but not in public contact. They use special arrest units that go in quickly, snatch up the wrong doers and leave almost before anyone knows they were there. There’s no time for an angry crowd to form up. It’s worked extremely well for them for many years and it’s something Chico PD could adapt for far less money than $75,000 for a ton of extra officers to be on the streets, ready to do battle as they push the crowd along. New Orleans would probably say we got lucky this year, because such forceful tactics often backfire.
While the streets may have been relatively quiet the trick or treaters were still doing major damage to a downtown business located on Flume. They stole four AC units from a large business for a loss of just under $20,000.
A friend’s daughter discovered the theft when she went to work this morning. She said the homeless have been sleeping on their property, but this is the first major damage.
Bet they thought since the police would be busy with the Halloween crowd they could get away with such a large theft, and they did.