Former mayor attacked at Redding park, RPD: it's time for people to be held accountable

REDDING, Calif. — Saturday morning the former mayor of Redding was assaulted at a park he works to help secure. While the current General Manager of the Redding Colt 45's, Rick Bosetti, was on the phone with police his truck window was smashed as well.

Bosetti said the woman who assaulted him was released from jail that same day, a few hours later. She then came back to the park where she threatened his wife.

Rick and his wife, Patty, are okay but they, as well as other people in the Redding community are asking for accountability from the city. He said it's not the first time he's dealt with threatening behavior at his Colt 45's club office at South City Park.

Redding Police Chief Roger Moore said it's time for people to be held accountable, and that's what the department is aiming to do by taking back public places in Redding through their sweeps for criminal activity.

"It's being ran kind of like a prison down there where you have certain people that control certain parts of the park and that's concerning to me. Every chance I get I have officers going down there and making sure people are obeying the law and obeying our Redding municipal code but it is still concerning to me right now because I really want to take back that park but we need help." Chief Moore said while the department is significantly down on their resources, that doesn't stop them from taking proactive measures.

On Wednesday RPD brought officers from the Neighborhood Policing Unit, Anderson Police Department, traffic division and probation together to conduct a sweep of some of Redding's parks.

Police say they are not targeting homelessness and admit they come across people in Redding parks that are purely down on their luck. However, they are targeting the criminal element, which is the majority of people they find illegally using the public space.

"It's been very difficult to hold people accountable here," Chief Moore added.

Nonetheless, RPD is trying and Bosetti agrees. However he is proposing closing public access to the park until a long term solution is reached.

Chief Moore is glad community members like Bosetti are offering new ideas and he thinks adding fencing could be an option. His concern is that closing off public access to the park may only relocate the issue.

"He's [Bosetti] frustrated with the illegal camping going on, all the drug use and things like that and quite frankly, our officers are as well. Unfortunately, there's going to be unintended consequences of doing that and that's pushing these folks to our businesses, pushing them to another park, pushing them down to our rivers, but if we truly want our citizens to use that park we have to do something, because at any given time you can go there and see 25 to 50 people," Chief Moore explained.

RPD said they cannot arrest their way out of problems at the park.

Chief Moore says it's not just Redding dealing with a high amount of crime but because Redding is a county seat, the city witnesses more than cities such as Anderson.

"Redding is rural. It's easy to camp, it's easy to get away and escape but also be in walking distance to the resources that are available to you."

Improvements such as hiring an additional prosecutor with the $200,000 donated by the Win River Casino and the Redding Rancheria have helped, according to Chief Moore, but the county and city still needs additional jail beds, outreach programs, transitional housing and most of all mental health resources.

In 2017 RPD said 300,000 lbs of trash was collected out of local canyons, waterways, parks and behind businesses. They expect to breach 100,000 lbs before June because of their second community work program officer on duty. With this, police advise against passing out sleeping bags, tents or other items.

Chief Moore and Rick Bosetti encourage Redding citizens to attend the next city council meeting on June 5 where they plan to discuss a solution to the safety aspect among South City Park.