OROVILLE — Community members and business owners gathered at the convention center Monday to network with and listen to speakers from local law enforcement, city administration and elected officials during a public safety workshop hosted by the Oroville Police Department and the Oroville Community Development Coalition.
“We’re hosting this event to educate, equip and empower our constituency,” said Councilor Shawn Webber. “We want people to know best practices for whatever issues that come up that they have to deal with.”
Primary workshop topics included communicating with law enforcement, law enforcement’s operational response, citizen’s arrest, code enforcement, prosecution and charges, basic de-escalation and self-defense techniques and biohazard abatement training.
Candy Knauth, owner of VillaVino Wine Bar, said while she hasn’t had any issues with crime at her business, she was attending the workshop to be proactive.
“Other downtown business owners who are my business neighbors have a lot of concerns,” said Knauth. “I came because I wanted to get educated, learn about resources and pass the information along.”
Barbara Williams, a YMCA instructor, said she was attending the event because she’s “interested in the health and wellbeing of Oroville.”
“Crime is something that is worrisome,” she said. “I want to be part of making and keeping Oroville safe.”
Webber, along with Oroville Police Chief Bill LaGrone, hosted the meeting which was also attended by councilors Janet Goodson and Tracy Johnstone, Vice Mayor Eric Smith and Mayor Dave Pittman, all of whom made brief remarks.
“Making Oroville the safest community possible is my goal, the City Council’s goal, but it takes a community to make that happen so if you see something, say something,” said Pittman. “We have great city here, five lakes and a river runs through it, but having great recreation doesn’t mean anything if it’s not a safe and secure community.”
Deana Croswell, Oroville police dispatch supervisor, spoke about dispatch protocol and reminded people the first thing they should do when calling the emergency number is to immediately provide the address of their location that way, she said, if a call is interrupted or disconnected officers know the party’s location.
Police Lt. Ruben Quihuiz covered several topics including the Police Department’s shift staffing and the difference between a crime in progress and a “cold crime,” or a crime that had already happened — such as is often the case with break-ins and vandalism. He also reviewed the requirements and appropriate use for citizen’s arrests and urged crime victims to remain in communication with the Police Department following the incident whether “it’s a formal or informal” investigation.
“We are human. We make mistakes. We are not perfect,” he said. “But we are here to provide the best level of service possible.”
City Code Enforcement Director Ron Belser spoke at length about his department’s responsibilities which range from removing abandoned vehicles from city streets and mitigating abandoned home blight to responding to complaints of trespassing and neighbor’s loud music, overgrown lawns, illegally parked and inhabited recreational vehicles in back yards and drug sales as well as the construction of unpermitted structures.
Belser said that in the past five years, code enforcement has removed 1,400 abandoned cars from city streets. The City Works Program team, developed through a partnership between code enforcement and the Hope Center, 335,000 pounds of garbage were removed from the sidewalks, alleys and streets from 2020 to 2023.
A lot of the work done by code enforcement is in response to the impact of the homeless, something Belser said he doesn’t see going away any time soon. However, he pointed out that with support from Butte County offices including behavioral health, social services and the Housing Navigation Center his department is able to mitigate this population’s impact.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Mark Murphy and Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea teamed up to discuss the relationship between city and county law enforcement, collaboration and prosecution.
“It’s not uncommon for (the police and Sheriff’s Office) to collaborate in a cooperative network that provides a layer of protection (to citizens) by leveraging resources county wide,” said Honea.
The two also discussed the effects California Assembly Bill 109 and Proposition 47 have had on local law enforcement. AB109, passed by voters in 2011, diverts defendants convicted of less serious felonies to serve their time in local county jails rather than in state prison. Prop. 47, passed by voters in 2014, increased the total threshold amount for misdemeanors from $450 to $950 and increased the number of disqualifying prior convictions from one to three or more.
AB109 has increased the population of the county jail which, in turn, has created the need for expanding the facility and recruiting more staff. Prop. 47 has hindered law enforcement and prosecutors from charging offenders with higher penalty felony charges.
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Murphy and Honea spoke about the difficulty of recruiting both new law enforcement personnel as well as assistant district attorneys and the challenges that being short staffed present especially, noted Honea, due to the increasingly prevalent “demonization of law enforcement.”
Murphy said the Butte County District Attorney’s Office loses “four to five prosecutors annually” and this “down staffed” situation has resulted in those remaining to do “400 hours of unpaid work.”
“We’re gliding down a path to implosion,” said Murphy. “If we continue to lose the same number of attorneys as we have been, by the end of the year we may not be able to prosecute misdemeanor offenses.”
While those gathered greeted that news with both shock and dismay, many expressed appreciation for local law enforcement and the workshop.
Herman Rodriguez, owner of Angelina and The Hairman Hair Studio, said his salon was broken into in June, and that while things are “already changing for the better” he appreciated the opportunity Monday’s forum gave him to speak to law enforcement and ask questions.
“I want to be part of working together for a safer and better community,” he said.
At the conclusion of the workshop, Creative Imaging Center owner Dean Gurr said he “learned a lot about how I can interact and connect with Oroville police officers and municipal law enforcement.”
“I believe this type of workshop helps us better equip ourselves to act as citizens,” said Gurr.
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