COLLABORATION IN COMMUNITY POLICING

The City of Chico, specifically California State University, Chico, has always had a “party school” image. This has helped to establish a strong culture of heavy drinking within the student and young adult population in the community. On several occasions, The City suffered from alcohol fueled riots resulting in the cancellation of the City’s historic springtime celebrations.

The Chico Police Department became acutely aware that the complexion of Halloween was changing. More and more people, most in costumes, were packing the sidewalks in the downtown area. The majority of the participants were drinking.

The un-sponsored Halloween event had been growing, not only in size, but also in the number of violent crimes and injuries associated with the event. As word of Halloween in Chico spread, we saw an influx of young adults from other areas in the state and nation. The police department attempted to manage the event by putting into place a variety of safeguards, but these efforts did not diminish the event. In peak years, the Chico Police Department estimated crowd sizes upwards of 20,000 plus. These numbers have quickly overwhelmed department and community resources, making it impossible to guarantee the public’s safety on Halloween night.

Halloween 2001 was the most violent in Chico’s history. It became obvious that the management efforts deployed by the police department over the ten years prior were not working. On March 12, 2002, the Chico City Council directed the city and the police department to “stop the late night violence” associated with Halloween.

The Chico Police Department took the lead in organizing a multifaceted community policing and problem solving-based approach to stopping the even. The Chico Police Department enlisted the help of citizens, university, media, fire medication personnel and other law enforcement agencies. The result of this partnership was an extensive print and television advertising campaign which encouraged young adults to stay out of the downtown and south campus areas of Chico on Halloween. Education of community and student groups on the strategies being deployed and reasons for their deployment, along with a zero tolerance enforcement strategy supplemented the ad campaign.

On Halloween 2002, law enforcement staffing saturated the areas where Halloween activity had taken place. The “zero tolerance” message was reinforced resulting in a large number of arrests. Ultimately, it was estimated that the 2002 crowd size had been reduced to approximately 5,000 persons. In 2003, the same strategy was used, and the Halloween crowd was virtually nonexistent.

As a result of the Chico Police Department's efforts, a standard to how to deal with large alcohol fueled gatherings has been established. The Chico Police Department recognizes the need to remain diligent and not allow the Halloween celebration to grow again. By working together to resolve this problem the Chico Police Department has developed a better working relationship with our neighboring law enforcement agencies, other city departments, the community and the university.

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