Citizens’ Advisory Committee to address concerns within the Clovis Police Department

On November 8th of last year Clovis Police Chief Curt Fleming delivered a full state of the department to the Clovis City Council.

It was through this state of the department that Chief Fleming described many of the problems that were also discussed at the Citziens’ Advisory Committee’s second meeting.

But it was at this November 8th City Council meeting that leadership and many residents first realized Clovis had a bit of a problem in the way of safety and the protection of Clovis’ townspeople.

One of the main issues according to Police Chief Fleming begins with the small number of officers under command.

Chief Fleming cited retirements, competition with other police forces in terms of recruitment, and impractical working conditions for the overall inability to have a fully staffed police force for the Clovis department.

In response, a committee was formed in order to take on this issue where a more detailed discussion could be had amongst Clovis and its residents.

Therefore, the Citizens’ Advisory Committee was formed to respond to the topic of staffing and budget issues within the Clovis Police Department.

With an impending deal between the City of Clovis and the Clovis Police Department looming around July, this committee could not have come at more of an important time.

At their meeting held at the California Health Sciences University campus on January 26, the committee released a schedule of eight tentative meetings and their agendas, which they held the right to change depending on time and matters of subject.

This schedule so far lists discussion points such as reviews of funding, evaluation of resources throughout the City of Clovis, and assessment of levels of services by the Clovis Police Department.

By the end of the committee’s time, they plan to develop a recommendation report in which they are reserving two meetings to fully discuss and approve direction and any suggestions to the Clovis City Council.

These recommendations will therefore assist the council in making a decision on how to move forward with this issue of police staffing in the Clovis Police Department.

The committee itself does not seat any council members, but will include City Manager John Holt and Police Chief Curt Fleming.

Further members of support for the committee from the City of Clovis include Assistant City Manager Andy Haussler, Finance Director Jay Schengel, City Attorney Scott Cross, City Clerk Karey Cha, and Public Information Chief Officer Chad McCollum.

This is all not to mention the official twenty-five members working on the committee who plan to show up either in person or online for the sole purpose of discussing just what they can do to better the situation facing both the Clovis Police Department and the City of Clovis as a whole.

“What you are about to do, is very important work”, exclaimed Mayor Jose Flores at the committee’s first official meeting on January 26th.

“We get one chance to leave this place behind, and now your role in that is really important” expressed Mayor Pro Tem Lynne Ashbeck when speaking directly to committee members.

“My hope is you’ll help us answer the question about ‘What kind of place do we wanna live in in 20 or 30 years?’”.

Depending on the types of discussion and the recommendation that this committee delivers, they may just have as much of a significant role as anyone else in how the City of Clovis fares in the years to come.

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JT is a recent college grad with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. He is mainly interested in sports and entertainment but covers a wide array of subjects. He currently writes for the Fresno State Baseball Dugout Club. JT looks forward to continuing his career at the Clovis Roundup and is excited to be working closely with a community that is very proud of its people.