NEW ERA FOR CHICO POLICE
Interim chief reflects on police funding, transparency, virus
The new job, while trying, is giving Matt Madden and the Chico Police Department a chance to reflect, he said.
Madden took over as the department’s interim chief during a pandemic, also at a time when policing has been increasingly scrutinized nationwide in the aftermath of the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis Police officers.
With those issues at the forefront, along with several other crises and issues of focus in the Chico community, Madden said, “sometimes out of tragedy, it really does make us look at what we’re doing and kind of evaluate where we’re at as a profession.”
Madden spoke with the Enterprise-Record in a phone interview Thursday morning on the aforementioned topics and several others. Madden, a Paradise native who’s been with the department for 23 years, replaced Mike O’Brien upon his retirement June 5.
The interview has been condensed for clarity.
Q: You took over this job in the middle of a pandemic. What are some of the challenges
“I feel very strongly the Chico Police Department’s use of force policies are in line with state regulations. Our Police Department is being compared to other ... departments around the country . ... They don’t have the high standards we do.”
— Mayor Ann Schwab
that have been presented with that?
A: The challenge is trying to mitigate, keeping our community safe as well as our own staff through this, while trying to also respect people’s constitutional rights.
There’s a lot at stake going through this pandemic. We have business owners who are suffering … it’s just a variety of issues that this thing has created.
We’re just trying to keep our staff safe so we can keep them working in the field, while trying to adhere to some of the guidelines — social distancing and some of the protective equipment … We’ve looked at various ways, we’ve looked at different staffing models to reduce our staff’s exposure and things like that.
QA: You talked about some of the things happening at national level right now — there have been a lot of conversations about police reform and defunding the police, some within the city of Chico recently. From your perspective, what’s your reaction to that and what kind of impact could that have on your department?
: It could have significant impacts depending on what the definition of defund the police is. I’ve heard quite a few over the last couple of weeks.
From my standpoint, I think one of the things the community needs to realize is that we’re still understaffed here at the Police Department and we’ve been so since coming out of the Great Recession.
When we talk about either literally defunding the police budget or rerouting or redesigning funds to address some of these things, I think we really need to look at the Police Department’s budget as a whole. Because one of the things that we have to look at is training. Training is expensive. When we send someone to training, not only are we paying those training cops, but generally we’re also paying for another officer to back-fill that officer’s shift.
So there’s a lot more moving parts when we talk about these things, and you have to look at it kind of strategically and see the whole picture. We’re certainly not afraid to do that. … The defunding part just depends on what the definition is, but I know that we’re going to be looking at that. We want to be transparent because I’m very confident that, as we move forward, people will see that (training) is already an area we focus on here at the Police Department.
Q: Is there a general estimate of how understaffed the department is?
A: Right now, if we were to talk specifically about the sworn positions, we are authorized 105 sworn positions. Right now, we currently have eight unfilled positions that have been frozen due to budgetary concerns. We’re down eight officers and we’re also down four dispatchers.
That’s pretty significant when you look at the calls for service. And our activity levels are high as well.
Q: On the topic of police reform, what do you and your department hope is the long-term outcome of these discussions at the city level?
A: First of all, I just want to say that the Police Department, at least in my position, I want to be as transparent as possible. I do feel like as police, we work for the community.
This unfortunate event that caused this whole momentum does actually present an opportunity for us to go back and review our policies and review our training, and have those conversations of what we’re doing, why we do things certain ways and then not be afraid to look at different ways of getting the job done.
As a police organization, we should constantly be evolving. We should never sit back and have the old adage of, ‘Well, that’s just how we’ve always done it.’
There’s new technology, new equipment, a lot of different factors go into how we address police policies and procedures.
I think this is a good opportunity for us to not only highlight what we’ve done to this point, but (also) to listen to our community, engage and allow people to provide some information and feedback, so that we continue to build that trust and that relationship.
Q: Aside from the pandemic, aside from police reform, what would you say are the most pressing day-to-day issues in Chico right now when it comes to policing?
A: Well, you know, we’re busy. I still think we’re impacted by some of the other crises we’ve been through here with this organization. We still have major impact from the Camp Fire. Our population levels have gone up; our staffing has not.
We’re constantly evaluating how best to deploy our resources to be able to reduce crime, address the quality of life issues and meet the expectations of our community.
Q: You’ve had a total of 23 years in the department, including three as deputy chief of police. How did all of those years, and any roles in particular, prepare you for this job you recently stepped into?
A: What was interesting is, for the last three years I’ve been deputy chief of police, so I was second in command in the organization.
My job was really to focus on the internal functions of the organization and addressing some of the major issues going on in the last three years, mainly, staffing. I played a role in hiring and recruiting and I was very proud of that. I made a promise to this organization as we built back out the department from the recession that we’d never lower our standards, and I believe that strongly.
We have a culture here that I feel strongly about and that is, we hire the best. And that’s, frankly, one of the reasons why those open police officer positions were even available to be frozen, because we really do vet out applicants for this job. I feel strongly that you need to put the right person in this job. It’s not an easy job and it’s not a job that everyone can do.
If there’s one positive I can say I really felt strongly about, it’s the hiring and recruiting in the last several years.
Q: On the flip side, are there any moments in your career you regret or would like to have done differently?
A: That’s a tough question. I can tell you in my whole career that after every shift I would constantly evaluate myself (and) my actions. I always told myself and I tell my officers that at the end of every shift, you have to be able to look in the mirror and say, ‘I did the right thing today.’
Certainly as human beings as we go we can make mistakes. But we make mistakes and we learn from them. I don’t have any real particular (instance), I can just say my concentration was never to make a mistake from the heart. I feel strongly about my career at this point, I’m proud of my career and I do feel because of that, I enjoy the role I’m in now because I get to push all of those experiences and all the things I’ve done, and I share those with my young officers to help them understand and become better at what they do.
Q : Anything else you’d like to add?
A : I’m very proud to be in this role. Certainly we have some relationship building to do in this community, but I’m excited about us moving us forward.
It’s a tough time to be in this position, but for me, it’s a no better time — as I’m starting to get toward the end of my career, there’s no better way than to finish strong. And to go out the way I’ve always wanted to go out, and that’s on top, being a strong leader in the organization and leaving it better than when I found it. That’s really my mission at this point.