New police chief holds meet, greet

The Orland community is invited to meet new Chief of Police Paula Carr on Thursday.

Carr will attend a meet and greet session starting at 6 p.m. in the Carnegie Center, 912 Third St.

She was sworn in Feb. 1 and has been on the job for almost two weeks as the city’s first woman police chief.

“I want to introduce myself and give people my history of law enforcement experience and the statewide programs I’ve been involved with that have reached the local levels,” Carr said Monday.

She hopes to utilize her state ties to assist Orland and other local departments, she said.

Carr said she has an open door policy that has kept her busy the past two weeks on the new job, but she looks forward to hearing from folks about their concerns.

“Being new to the department, I want to find out what programs we already have and how to maintain them with a declining budget,” she said. “I also want to see what programs they (the citizens) would like to come to the department.”

Carr is already looking at federal and state grants that can fund collaborative projects between her department and the community, she said.

As an example, she came across a Health and Human Services grant that might fund drug prevention efforts for youth in cooperation with law enforcement, the county mental health department and the community.

Carr said she does not know all of the particulars about this grant, but it is one she would like more information on to see if it would be beneficial to Orland and Glenn County. 

She added she is relying on her staff, sergeants and officers to assist her in the transition, and she plans to use a “group effort” to determine what direction the department will take in the future.

The 24-year law enforcement veteran has worked in a variety of positions during her career, including animal control, community services and as a patrol officer for the Chico Police Department.

She later became an administrative sergeant for the Chico State Police Department and has spent the last five years as a deputy chief with CalEMA, formerly the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, working with the law enforcement mutual aid division.