Chico City Council approved a proposed plan by the Chico Police Department designed to provide the city with traffic enforcement and relief from burglaries and thefts Tuesday.

“The City of Chico has gone without a dedicated traffic unit for nearly five years, since then traffic collisions have increased by 39 percent,” Lieutenant Billy Aldridge said.

In 2016, Chico experienced 2,427 traffic collisions, 323 of those being DUI arrests.

“A single full-time traffic officer made over 200 DUI arrests in a typical year,” Aldridge said.

Around $96,000 will be allocated to the proposed plan throughout the rest of the fiscal year.

“The best investment we can make right now to improve the quality of life in our community is an investment in our police department…to be able to do that with funds that are already earmarked for the police department is a win-win for everyone,” guest speaker, Mark Francis said.

Alejandra Fraga can be reached at [email protected] or @alifragster on twitter