New Interim Police Chief is appointed; Chico State welcomes him
Interim Chief Police becomes appointed by University Police. Photo credit: Sean Martens
New chief was hired Thursday to lead Chico State’s campus police department.
John M. Reid, was appointed by President Gayle Hutchinson after Chief John Feeney, who served two years and ended his position Aug. 2. The position of Interim Police Chief was temporarily accepted by Lt. Corinne Beck.
According to a press release, Reid is currently Chief of Police at Channel Islands. He brings 30 years of law enforcement experience to campus after formerly being chief of police at University of Wisconsin and police captain at University of Arkansas. He is a graduate of the 202nd session of FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia and received his criminal justice master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati.
Chief Reid, will be appointed full-time during his interim meanwhile a search process will be put into action within the coming weeks.
Lt. Beck will resume her position as lieutenant of patrol operations.
A welcome reception is expected to take place and will be announced at a future date.
Further information can be reached with University Police at (530)898-5555.
Jacqueline Morales can be reached at [email protected] or @jackie_theorion on Twitter.
Swen Oleson // Sep 4, 2017 at 3:34 pm
My previous remarks on this story have been removed. In my remarks I criticized Orion editors for not getting the story on why Chief Feeny was fired. The University bigwigs claim they can’t talk about this because of state laws. That’s no excuse for not getting a story, the FBI, police departments, the justice department, White House Staffers, etc. all “leak” stories to the media – at the risk of losing their jobs – 24/7. Orion editors can’t get the story of Feeny’s firing because they are lazy – it’s easier to print University press releases. Last year the Orion didn’t have a scoop in the paper all year – good stories were not followed up either. Editors seemed content to have good graphics only. The attitude at the Orion last year was “Hey, were the “Orion”, we’re this great college paper”. Is that true now? Where are the scoops? Why can’t you guys find out why Feeny got fired? In my remarks I also suggested the college President hired one of her pals to replace Feeny, so that may have been another reason my remarks were deleted. The college has rules supposedly designed to keep university bigwigs from hiring pals . Were they followed with this hire? The reporter here should be answering these questions, she should not be running errands for the CSU Chico PR department. The college President said awhile ago she doesn’t censor the paper, but it looks she doesn’t have to, the editors do it for her.
Swen Oleson // Sep 1, 2017 at 11:15 am
As a reader I am wondering what happened to the former PD chief, pretty hard to get fired from a State University job. Seems like there is much more to the story of why the former PD Chief isn’t there anymore.. The bigwigs at Chico can say – as they are doing – that’s it’s a personnel matter and they can’t talk about it, but I would think lower level people working at the campus PD might know something – and maybe would talk about if off the record – if Orion reporters just made some effort to get the story. Another thing I noticed is the new PD chief is coming from Channel Islands, the current college Presidents former place of employment. This suggests to me she is hiring a pal. Is this kosher, the college President hiring a pal to fill a big job like PD chief at a state college? Will this temp PD Chief be applying for the open job down the line. In light of the mysterious nature of the ex-PD Chief’s departure this hire looks like the new President just didn’t like the ousted PD Chief, and once she got rid of him she puts her pal into the job. These are the thoughts – as a reader – that went through my mind when I read this story. If the University would better explain what is going on – as it pertains to the ousted PD Chief, which they could do by a discreet leak of information, I wouldn’t be so suspicious. Are University bigwigs using personnel rules to hide something? CSU Chico is a public college, the public has a right to know what’s going on, I am interested in knowing why the college PD Chief got fired, and why suddenly one of the college Presidents friends is filling the job. Something doesn’t smell right.