Crime is increasing in Chico, and the number of police officers available to fight it is at a decade-long low.

City officials, police officers and former public safety officials are all calling the lack of sworn police officers an ongoing problem compounded by the city’s recent cuts to funding for public safety.

Former analyst sees ‘alarming’ trends

Robert Woodward, a former crime statistician for the city of Chico, was dismissed after the union contract for Chico’s public safety personnel was passed on July 2 by the City Council. The contract detailed officers’ updated wages, hours and the new budget for public safety.

Chico experienced a general increase in violent crimes and various forms of theft within the first five months of 2013, according to one of the last reports filed by Woodward before his dismissal.

The frequency of assaults stood out on the report, nearly equaling the previous year’s total with 114 by the end of May.

“There has definitely been an increase of violent crimes,” Woodward said. “In the last year or so, we’ve had an increase of stabbings. As for the other trends, there’s been a bit of an uptake in burglaries as well. The increase of stabbings in Chico is alarming.”

Woodward understands why his position had to be cut to preserve funding for patrol officers.

“The decision the department made to eliminate my position, I understand, there was no one left to cut,” Woodward said.

The lack of officers on the street is concerning given the uptick in crime, Woodward said.

“It’s an all-time low, a historic low,” he said. “It’s something the citizens should be up in arms about.”

Cuts and reductions

There are 64 sworn police officers in Chico, and  two more are on the way after the City Council approved funding for the additional positions during the summer.

The total numbers of officers patrolling the streets on any given day could be less than that, said Capt. Lori MacPhail of the Chico Police Department.

“There could be four or so officers out on disability on any given week,” MacPhail said.

Police are doing their best with the resources that they have, MacPhail said.

“Police administration does not feel this is adequate but we are working with what we have been given,” MacPhail wrote in an email to The Orion on Monday.

There were four retirements this year, and two non-sworn employees were cut due to budget cuts. Several officers are set to retire before the end of the year or early next year.

Several police teams have been eliminated, including the mounted horse team, the riot team and the critical incident stress management team.

These secondary jobs require overtime pay and extra training. The horses, which are owned by the officers and leased to the department, are also expensive to train and maintain.

“That’s probably the biggest one people talked about,” MacPhail said. “One man on a horse is worth the work of three officers.”

Police are currently working on a contingency plan that will shift officers to patrol duty if the force gets any smaller.

The department is facing about a million dollars in cuts to its budget, MacPhail said.

Balancing the budget

Brian Nakamura, the city manager, said he recognizes the urgency of public safety in Chico.

“Is there a correlation between the number of officers and the number of crimes we’ve had?” Nakamura asked. “I think you can make that justification. What I’ve experienced in the 20-plus years I’ve been doing this is more officers will allow us to investigate more crimes on all spectrums.”

There isn’t enough money to maintain a full police force and simultaneously keep up the roads, parks and other public services that the city is responsible for, Nakamura said.

“We’re trying to be accountable for the resources we have and the resources we can put on the street,” Nakamura said. “It’s very frustrating to me that we don’t have the money to be able to pay for more officers to address the crimes.”

A major problem with fielding a larger police force is that locals have consistently voted against raising the taxes that fund it, Nakamura said. Had the utility user tax passed last November, it could have paid for as many as five officers.

“The voters are screaming ‘Do more. But we are going to give you less money to do it with.’ Unfortunately, I can’t do both,” he said.

Though Chico won’t make a full economic recovery within the current fiscal year, the city hopes to break even within the next three to five years, Nakamura said. Public safety will be the first program to be expanded when funds are available.

Jessie Severin can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.