TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Tucson's new police chief describes himself as an optimist.
He must be.
Budget cuts will mean a drop in approximately 100 officers from the Tucson Police Department in the coming year.
And yet, Chris Magnus says he will use a national police task force plan to improve your service at the same time.
That plan is getting back to the basics -- to the foundation of any police force -- the patrol officers.
"Many of the officers who were working outside of patrol are now coming back to patrol, so we'll have a larger patrol presence than we have in the past out on the streets."
Another part of the plan is to make the police department more transparent and accountable.
Right now, only about one-fifth of officers wear body cameras, but that could change relatively soon.
"We now have a pending grant from the Bureau of Justice assistance out of Washington to I hope will be successful to outfit the remainder of our patrol officers with body cameras probably closer to the end of the year."
Of course, the officers won't be the only ones with cameras.
Both in Tucson and other cities, we've seen the public take an active role in getting video of police -- sometimes casting them in a very poor light.
"Does that make the job a little more challenging? I think it does. But is that causing officers to step back from doing their work? I don't think so."
Chief Magnus also is instigating the same strategy he used in Richmond to enlist citizens as partners in the fight against crime.
"The only way we could do that was get officers out into those neighborhoods, have them become familiar -- almost a fixture -- out of their cars, on bikes, at neighborhood meetings, stopping by businesses schools, churches other places, really getting to know community on a first-name basis."
When it comes to property crimes, Tucsonans often have criticized the police for not only showing up late, but also lack of follow-up.
"I'd like to give officers more time to be able to really help people who have been victims of these crimes. And I'd like to take a step back and have the officers in the neighborhoods so we can create a culture of prevention that cuts down on the numbers of these crimes in the first place."
The chief is looking at the next year as one of re-organization to regain financial footing with a smaller force of approximately 850 officers.
He's hoping in future years to rebuild the force and eventually get manpower up to near 1,000.
Watch KGUN9's full raw interview with Chief Magus below:
