Recently, in front of Mishka’s Cafe, Mayor Dan Wolk told the Sacramento Bee, “This is Davis and we’ve got a problem here… We can’t just move on like nothing happened here. We’ve got to see what’s going on and what we can do about it.”
But do we have a problem here? Clearly we had a couple of high profile incidents – the murder at KetMoRee and the rape – that took place at Community Park, but the encounter began at Bistro 33.
Last month, Assistant Police Chief Darren Pytel gave the Bee a similar comment to what he had previously given the Vanguard, saying, “We haven’t seen a significant increase in the number of calls, but we’re seeing changes in the types of calls… We’re seeing more violence, fights and weapons cases – knives, pipes, display of firearms.”
The mayor has been pretty consistent in his belief that Davis’ downtown has changed after 10 pm and he doesn’t believe we should be approving more nightclubs. He told the Bee last month, “We shouldn’t be approving another nightclub without having this community conversation… I have to be honest: I don’t think we should have more of these nightclubs downtown. If we’re going to have nightclubs, it can’t be the status quo. You’ve got to have more security. You’ve got to have more limits.”
If we are going to make changes, however, it should be based on some hard data, rather than speculation.
The Bee, for example, juxtaposes the drop in violent crime citywide from 265 in 2004 to 84 in 2014 against the rise in attacks downtown, which they say “coincides with nightclubs opening in the G Street area, including late-night club scenes at KetMoRee, Tres Hermanas and G Street Wunderbar.”
The Vanguard has requested some preliminary crime data from the Davis Police. It is not perfect; right now the police are only able to provide crime by beat. Beat 2 includes the downtown, but at least it will give us a sense what of has been going on. Obviously, 2015 still has about 18 percent of the year to go, but at least we can see the trend since 2010.
This chart shows crime violent crime broken down into five categories from homicide to rape down to simple assault, by quarter, and those numbers are then further broken down to the city as a whole and Beat 2, which includes the downtown.
When we compress the data into all violent crime and by year, we can see that the city has been fairly stable over that period, perhaps with a downward tick, other than 2013. The downtown has remained about the same.
When we graph the two lines by quarter, we see some wild fluctuations but the overall trend is the city violent crime appears to be going downward while it remains fairly stable in the downtown.
We see that more clearly in violent crime by year – maybe a slight uptick in the downtown and a small downtick citywide. Clearly, 2015 will have a small uptick in crime from last year, both citywide and in the downtown.
Based on the conversation at council on Tuesday, we charted out the rapes by year. I agree with those who argue that rapes are likely underreported, however, underreporting has been fairly stable over time and, that being the case, I see no real evidence of an uptick in sexual assaults in the city.
Again, back in September, Darren Pytel noted that the calls for service have not suddenly doubled or tripled downtown, it’s always been busy. However, the nature of these incidents have escalated somewhat in the last few years.
Darren Pytel added, “We are still with a lot of problems there.” He said at KetMoRee and other locations that they are seeing more and more weapons. “We’ve taken more guns and knives off of people arrested in fights downtown,” he said. “We have kind of seen a change regarding escalation in weapons and violence over the past couple of years.”
But the statistics that we see really don’t appear to bear this out.
The conditions that the city placed on Blondies seem reasonable – adding more officers to the downtown patrol, improving security, and wanding people all seem like reasonable precautions. However, the community seems to be reacting more to a few high profile incidents than any real increase in crime – at least from what is reflected in the last six years.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
The statistics bear it out, we’re having a huge over-reaction to recent incidents.
““We’ve taken more guns and knives off of people arrested in fights downtown,” he said. “We have kind of seen a change regarding escalation in weapons and violence over the past couple of years.”
But the statistics that we see really don’t appear to bear this out.”
The statistics don’t seem to bear this out because the statistics do not speak to the issue of the specific type of violence in terms of the use of weaponry at all. It is not possible from the data presented to know whether or not there has been a change from the use of fists to the use of knives or guns. Since the data does not speak to this issue at all, the best evidence that we have is the statement of Assistant Chief Patel that there has been a change.
The distinction is a fine point, but an important one because it might alter one aspect of policy, the issue of wanding. It was previously asserted that this would not help because it would not stop people from having their weapons on the street, which is true. But it would prevent them from having them on themselves and immediately available if they actually entered a club, which would seem to me to be an appropriate step to take.
I agree. It’s not like they are door checking their weapons either, so they won’t have them on the street as they move from bar to bar.
It would still be possible for someone to take a break in a street fight to go retrieve their weapons from their car, but my guess is that in most situations the person they are attacking will use that as an opportunity to leave.
“It is not possible from the data presented to know whether or not there has been a change from the use of fists to the use of knives or guns.”
Yes. As a statistician would say, “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
Prevention is not nearly as dramatic as response after the fact, but I think it is very good to encourage this community debate at this time – and not to let it drop if by statistical chance there are no more incidents in the news for a while.
Napleon
“I think it is very good to encourage this community debate at this time – and not to let it drop if by statistical chance there are no more incidents in the news for a while.”
I agree and think this is in accordance with Rochelle Swanson’s statement at City Council that we should not just high five each other with the moratorium’s passage, but need to continue to monitor how we are doing over time and use our progress as a guide to what further steps might be necessary and to back off those which do not seem to be constructive.
“we’re having a huge over-reaction to recent incidents”
I see this differently. I see what we are doing now as a delayed response to issues we should have been addressing as a community well before these two incidents. But then, I realize that I speak from the point of view of a doc with a strong belief in primary prevention as the best approach.
Nice spin.
So either we are too stupid or too lazy to act until after someone is killed or raped, or this is just an excuse of a reactionary. I vote for the latter.
According to these numbers 10 women were raped downtown in a 6 month period without any significant response from our council. It took a murder occurring and Blondies pizza wanting to come to town to get the type of reaction we have seen from our council, in the name of protecting women. I hope these numbers are wrong, because this is pathetic.
Frankly
“Nice spin.
So either we are too stupid or too lazy to act until after someone is killed or raped, or this is just an excuse of a reactionary. I vote for the latter. “
No spin at all. My comment is just how I see the world. What I wonder is why, every time we do not see the world the same way, you feel the need to descend into name calling.
Between July-September of 2014 there were 15 rapes in Davis, 10 of which happened downtown?
Why was Dan Wolk not making this statement to the Sacramento Bee a year ago?
And why was our council not talking the types of “preventive” actions they took on Tuesday then?
To be fair, I should note that Robb Davis has consistently raised concerns with what has been happening downtown long before it was getting any media attention. I do think its sad that it took a high profile murder and rape, and the media spotlight that followed these horrific events, before these issue, particularly sexual assaults against women, got any real traction with the rest of the council.
Tia wrote:
Michelle wrote:
I agree with Tia and, notwithstanding Michelle’s comment, I did not follow through consistently or forcefully enough on my concerns and I very much regret my lack of action on this. During my campaign I did a ride along and had several conversations with the police about the late night scene in downtown. I was troubled because they were troubled but I did not push hard enough to place this on our agenda as a priority. I bear the responsibility for my inaction but also feel that the actions we are taking now represent a reasonable response to an environment that has, over time, inappropriately promoted overconsumption of alcohol and not taken appropriate actions to promote greater safety.
I want to reiterate one point I raised at Tuesday’s meeting: the establishments responsible for nearly all the police calls all have Type 47 ABC licenses. They are restaurants who have the right to serve beer, wine and distilled spirits as part of a food service. They must be a bonafide public eating place per ABC’s regulations (see § 23038. “Bona fide public eating place”; “Meals”; “Guests”). They are restaurants but they have been (in my opinion) in the practice of converting “de facto” into Type 48 licenses on certain evenings. In other words, it is my contention, that they have not been operating in compliance with their licenses, and while some may claim that “strictly speaking” they have been compliance I believe there is clear evidence that they have not honored the spirit of their licenses and, because they are NOT clubs, have not been held accountable to undertake the types of actions that true clubs would take to assure safety. The foregoing are my opinions based on personal observation and discussions with patrons of several of the establishments.
I regret that this something that you would have to forcefully and consistently push in order to get action on, especially given the high number of sexual assaults that took place downtown in 2014.
Robb: I am curious, why are you relying on your opinion/contention when all that you need to do is contact the ABC to see if the establishments are in compliance. You may be correct in your interpretation of the licencing regulations, but there is also the very real possibility that your interpretation is not correct and as a consequence, you are unfairly attacking the legitimate practices of local businesses. What matters is how the ABC interprets the regulations (and how the Courts adjudicate them), not your interpretation, no matter how well-meaning.
These are good questions. It really comes down to what the ABC currently enforces. The 47 license is intended for restaurants that serve alcohol. The 48 license is for bars.
But what about a bar that offers food choices? What about a restaurant that stops serving food at some point, but keeps the bar open later.
These are not uncommon business practices, and it seems that the 47 and 48 license lines can be quite gray even from a strict interpretation.
Summary:
So it would really come down to ABC oversight standards and trends. If it is a restaurant that turns into a night club, is it a restaurant or a night club? From the summary description, KetMoRee would seem to be in compliance with a 47 license.
Sports Bars tend to have a 47 license. Even though they are called a “bar” they tend to serve food, and because of that they work with the 47 license. What if the sports bar cleared some tables at night and opened a dance floor… would that invalidate their 47 license? I am guessing not.
The problem I think is that a single establishment cannot have more than one license unless there is more than one bar counter-space. Bistro-33 is an example where they probably have two ABC licenses to support the two separate bars. However, assuming one bar counter, my understanding is that the closest ABC license match will be acceptable.
First off, as the author of the Sacramento Bee article mentioned here – and a south Davis resident – I appreciate the commentary on the story and the continuing conversation. But through all the number crunching, I feel like some important nuances are being missed.
There’s much talk about overreaction to high profile incidents, but there are under reported incidents that are very concerning as well. Case in point: As I reported, just 24 hours before the Ket Mo Ree stabbing there was a serious incident at 2nd & G that involved a loaded gun, cocaine and other felonies – a total of 7 charges related to drugs and guns. I didn’t see any other reference to this in the media. Even without the stabbing 24 hours later, this notion of loaded guns and blow in downtown seems very different than the Davis I knew while going to school here in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
There’s also a human element that’s not reflected in these Power Point graphs and charts. Consider that you have a business owner who’s been on the front lines of this issue for years, who’s overseen his downtown Davis restaurant/nightclub every weekend while we’re likely culrled up in bed at home or pontificating from our laptops on the couch. He’s seen firsthand how guns and knives have crept into downtown Davis nightlife, with one angry patron recently threatening to stab his bouncer. And now he’s pulled the plug on his Tres Hermanas nightclub, in part because of these safety issues. The fact that he’s walking away from a successful revenue stream – while also going on the record more than once to recount downtown Davis safety issues – is hugely telling.
In any case, thanks again for the commentary and best to all.
— Chris Macias
Thanks Chris adding your perspective and the relevant information you shared.
I’m stunned by the number of rapes that occurred in Downtown Davis during a 6 month period in 2014. That number seems really high. Do you know if this was reported on? Do you have a sense of why there was not the kind of reaction we are seeing now from our council in response to this many sexual assaults downtown in such a short period of time?
This is a good question. I don’t normally report on Davis civic issues so I’ll have to check. Either way, sounds like many issues are at play here and I’m sure we’ll be following up on them. I’m looking into another topic related to Davis public safety as well. And BTW, it’s not all Debbie Downer stories I’m looking for or cover when it comes to Davis. I’ve written plenty about Davis culture that stems from both the university and the city itself.
” but there are under reported incidents that are very concerning as well.”
they maybe underreported in terms of the media, but they’re reflected in the data.
DO owners really spend any time in these places? Has this “reporter” verified that claim? And this happens more than just weekends.
Davis has let their ABC licensing enforcement slide, because of something. Is it more tax money? They need to get a grant to enforce the law? I think the mooratorium should shut down all the bars until they get a handle on it, instead of stopping new business. If it is a couple bad actors, then shut them down for a month. Apparently Davis has no plan for this, and is reacting instead of working the plan.
Yes.
Yes, the owner of Tres Hermanas was there diligently to oversee the (now former) nightclub, and was working directly with security on the night I was reporting from downtown. His reason for closing down the nightclub portion of the business, he said, was in part from the burnout of working until 4 a.m. from Thursdays – Saturdays and also increasing concerns about downtown safety.
Thank you, both – That’s ONE owner.. But he shut it down?
We had a murder; a nightclub owner’s staff was subjected to a near-knifing. Do we as a city want to sit on our hands and wait until the statistics get “bad enough” to “justify” doing something about the violence downtown, or do we want to institute some new regulations as preventative measures? I vote for the latter.
who has suggested that the city sit on its hands. the vanguard seems to be okay with the new regulations but critical of some of the more hysterical comments in the media.
So we went from 3 rapes in 2010 to 11 rapes in 2014 in the core area, and how is that not a problem? (I guessed at the number from the graph.) Isn’t that a 350% increase in rape?
There also is probably a ton of minor crime, peeing in the streets, etc., that get less headlines. A graph for DUIs and drunk / disorderly would be great. (One small solution is to change the garbage pickup night for downtown residents to Monday or Tuesday.)
This increase is quite troubling, though the statistics don’t support the claim that 1 in 4 college coeds is raped.
it looks like 2014 was an outlier and 2015 has gone back to 4 rapes.
I’m sure the victims who were raped in 2014 will find comfort in the fact that they are outliers, making them statistically insignificant.
Are we supposed to find comfort in the fact that we have gone back to “only” 4 rapes in our downtown?
not comfort, but perspective.
And the bars are still in business, but new ones cannot come in? Logic escapes me.. The ones not in business are the ones that cannot move ahead with business plans? I say shut down the existing bars. As Mr Davis says, they are outside their ABC license.
TBD
“though the statistics don’t support the claim that 1 in 4 college coeds is raped.”
The statistics neither support nor refute this claim since these are beat specific and do not reflect the number of rapes of UCD co-eds occurring on campus or in the surrounding communities.
Here is my back of the envelope math. Since we have roughly 36,000 students, at 55% female equals 19,800 women x 25% = 4950 rapes / 4.5 years (matriculation) = 1100 rapes year x 20% (claim for % actually reported) = 220 reported rapes per year.
From what I have read, we have nowhere near 220 reported or alleged rapes of UCD coeds. (The numbers from the city likely include both students and non students.)
Here is my inventory of stated “problems” after reading everything written about this topic:
1. More downtown violent crime
This article shoots a big hole in that stated problem as stats and the words of our local crime expert, Assistant Chief Pytel, do no support the claim. Violent crime has not increased downtown.
2. More weapons downtown
This stated problem is supported by our experts. The solution has been put into place… wanding and additional security measures.
3. Bad element coming to town
This stated problem also seems to be supported by our experts. However, there is no agreement as to the cause of this. Some say that the nightclubs themselves attract the bad element from outside. However, others that have lived here and spent more time in the Davis night scene say that Davis has always attracted people from outside the area for the college crowd party opportunities. And the population of the region has exploded over the years. There are nightclubs in Vacaville, Fairfield and Sacramento, so why would people like the 5-6 thuggish punks from Vacaville drive all the way to Davis for entertainment? The young people in town – and there are a lot of them and their numbers are growing – are no different than any young people before them… they want to socialize, dance and party at night. They get started around 10:00 – 11:00 PM where many of them have a drink or two at home before walking to where the events are located. The crowds start forming around 11:00-11:30 PM. The partying stops around 2 PM where everyone heads home. I think this is maybe a bit later in the evening than previous generations, but it is not unique to Davis… young people tend to stay up later these days. If we force the restaurants to close earlier, or to stick to a more strict interpretation of their ABC 47 license where they will lose the space for a dance floor (because they are forced to serve food all night and have tables for it), then these young people will just move the party elsewhere… because that is what young people do.
It is my opinion that we will not have a material impact on the number of outsiders coming to Davis in search of parties by closing down the restaurants early and eliminating the dancing component. However, they will not be as concentrated… they will be scattered around the neighborhoods looking for the replacement parties. And we will also eliminate a retail service that a great percentage of our community population wants and enjoys. There will be less business downtown. The businesses will be less successful. I would expect more good restaurants like Our House to end up failed.
I think our best solution to the outside element problem is to wand and put more law enforcement and security personnel downtown.
4. Downtown noise
I think there are some people afflicted with Hyperacusis and/or Misophonia . And frankly I don’t know why they would live next to a vibrant urban retail area… especially one like Davis where all 72,000 people have to come to a small 8-square block area. But if people insist on living in or near the core, I highly recommend they consider putting in triple-pane replacement windows in their house. I did so a few years ago and the difference is astounding. It is also a green thing because they are better insulating.
Davis has a pretty strict noise ordinance already, and so I do not see this as an actionable problem for the city related to this topic… just an individual issue with some people being more sensitive to sound than others.
5. Alcohol abuse
This might certainly be a problem, but is it connected to the Davis restaurants and bars? Not from my perspective. This is the same track taken by the prohibitionists at the turn of the 20th century. This and the moral depravity argument. It seems some people are attempting to exploit (ride on the coattails) of the recent tragedies to pursue their anti-alcohol views. Or, they are using the “alcohol is bad” platform to help bolster their attacks on the downtown to transform it more to their liking (and away to the liking of other residents). I think this argument needs to be dropped from the downtown debate and moved to another category for how the city and UCD can help educate the population for what is responsible and irresponsible drinking.
6. Objectifying of women
Again, is this a problem of the Davis restaurants and bars, or just the strong reactionary opinions of conservative older people over the more loose and open sexuality of youth? The point of lingerie parties is used to elicit moral outrage at the business; but the business is not forcing patrons to dress a certain way. The patrons are making their own decisions of free will for what to wear. Is the restaurant or bar objectifying women, or are the women objectifying themselves? It certainly appears to be the latter. And in consideration of this, I think this argument should be dropped from the debate about downtown business and instead rerouted to a discussion about responsible clothing and sexuality.
In summary, from my perspective, the additional security measures are all that is needed… and is all we can and should do. Now let’s move on to building some more peripheral commercial space so we can relive some of that congestion downtown.
Frankly
“ I think this argument needs to be dropped from the downtown debate and moved to another category for how the city and UCD can help educate the population for what is responsible and irresponsible drinking.”
And I see the role of both City and UCD leadership as educating through example. What could be more “educational” than seeing that the city in which you will be located through your higher education takes the hazards involved in excess alcohol consumption seriously. ( Not as a moral issue, but certainly as a health and wellness issue).
I’m fine with the city leadership demonstrating that it takes it seriously. But it needs to be removed from the debate about the downtown establishments. Are you also going to demand that we reduce the selections of alcohol in the grocery stores by 70% for the City to educate through example? How about a new rule to limit the number of proof-gallons that can be stored in a residence?
Or… how about the city educate through example the expectation that people will make good life choices, instead of setting the example that we think people are so incapable of self-control that we need to adopt endless rules to live by… so that people stop being responsible and just rely on others to tell them what they can and cannot do?
If it wasn’t an election year I doubt if even this murder would inspire the city leaders to grandstand as they have.
And where is the University in this conversation, that supplies 95% of the customers these bars have? This article is strangely quiet, maybe because they are supporting the “innovation” in town?
Miwok
There were two student leaders at the public forum. I don’t think that many students pst here on the Vanguard. That does not mean that they are silent on the issue.
Frankly
“ Are you also going to demand that we reduce the selections of alcohol in the grocery stores by 70% for the City to educate through example? How about a new rule to limit the number of proof-gallons that can be stored in a residence?”
No. But I am sure that will not stop you from trying to put the words in my mouth or claim that this is what I am “really saying”.
Earlier today I said : “I see what we are doing now as a delayed response to issues we should have been addressing as a community well before these two incidents. But then, I realize that I speak from the point of view of a doc with a strong belief in primary prevention as the best approach.”
Robb, as is his habit, stepped up and owned some degree of responsibility. Now it is my turn. I have known about the medical problems associated with the excessive consumption of alcohol for years. I have sat with many tearful young women who honestly don’t know whether or not they have been raped because they have no memory of the events of the evening in question. Had I made the appropriate connection, I might have appreciated that this common event in my office might be, at least in part, connected to the business practice of encouraging irresponsible consumption of alcohol. It is not just the nightclubs. It is TV, movies, magazines, commercials and the college culture all of which tend to portray alcohol as a critical part of “a good time”.
Now, I am no prude. It is obvious to me that prohibition was a dismal failure just as the “war on drugs has been. I drink, but never to excess so this is not a moral but rather an individual and community health issue for me. However, I cannot help but be a bit embarrassed that it took these two incidents for me to truly connect the dots. What I should have been doing is gathering data, writing articles and presenting my findings to the City Council. I regret my failure to be proactive on this issue, but it in no way means that I should not speak out now that I have finally made the connection. I suspect that at least some of our police and city leaders feel similarly.
I have lived and worked downtown almost continuously since 1995.
The downtown late night scene has gotten busier and busier by the year.
When I was on the CC, ending in 2004, we had almost no where to go for a drink or food after a meeting. It was quiet downtown, most of the time.
Now, there are roaming groups of shaggy young men after 10 pm throughout the Core.
It’s the late night club scene that brings them here.
I feel very confident that most of the violent acts described above are these out of towners that come for the late booze, drugs, and college women.
These numbers appear to be crime reports, not confirmed crimes. If we accept that they are at least roughly representative of actual crimes, we are looking at an average of approximately 300 incidents of violent crime every year since 2010. If there is a trend in the data it is very slight and probably not significant but if you graph the data on a per capita basis, the trend is flat or very slightly downward (due in part to increasing population). In fact, there is absolutely nothing in this data to support the notion that violent crime is increasing due to the nightclubs. Even if you look at reports only from Beat 2, which is not the downtown but a subsection of the City (of unknown size) that includes the downtown, you cannot see a meaningful trend in these data to support the claim.
Said another way, one conclusion that we may draw from these data is that the claim that violent crime is increasing due to the nightclubs is not supported by the facts.
One way we might actually address the impact of the nightclubs is if we mapped these reported crimes by location and time of day. I suspect that each of these incidents have an address and Date/time associated with the reports. Ten years ago when I was in charge of the company GIS system, it would have been trivial to take a spreadsheet of data of that sort and create a map showing the location of each incident (by year), filtering by time of day. With that we could easily create a visual representation of all reported violent crimes that occurred downtown while the nightclubs were in operation, allowing us to actually answer the question of their impact. My understanding is that the City has a GIS specialist on staff who likely could do the work much quicker now than I could have with the tools available ten years ago.
Of course it is much more fun to just make the claim that the nightclubs are responsible for a rise in violent crime and then keep repeating it until everyone accepts it as true.
Frankly: “There are nightclubs in Vacaville, Fairfield and Sacramento, so why would people like the 5-6 thuggish punks from Vacaville drive all the way to Davis for entertainment?”
Because Davis 1) has young college females; 2) has nightclubs that encourage young females to become over-inebriated by giving them free drinks (which is illegal by the way) if they come dressed in lingerie or are pretty enough, making them easier targets for sexual assault; 3) is a town that tends to tout itself as “safe” and has refused to take simple preventative precautions, e.g. extra security in nightclubs, wanding; 4) has citizens who insist on believing Davis is a completely “safe” town, who do not practice basic safety measures such as locking doors to homes or cars, walking alone late at night, which invites the criminal element here.
Frankly: “The point of lingerie parties is used to elicit moral outrage at the business; but the business is not forcing patrons to dress a certain way. The patrons are making their own decisions of free will for what to wear.”
Giving out free drinks to encourage women to dress in skimpy clothes is 1) illegal; 2) encouraging young women to become over-inebriated; 3) is encouraging young women to dress in less in exchange for money (free drinks). I know this is hard for you to wrap your mind around, because you don’t have any daughters, but young females are more vulnerable to criminal activity than males. Just curious, do you ascribe to the notion that “boys will be boys”? Have you raised your sons to be gentleman, or to take what they can get, just make sure to take precautions? I think fathers of daughters have a whole different mindset when it comes to the welfare of their daughters, and for good reason. There are a lot of sexual predators out there… why would we as a city turn a blind eye to business establishments that engage in practices that foster risky behaviors which make young women more likely targets of crime?
there is another element here that is a mitigating factor. if you talk to people from outside of yolo – yolo has a reputation. crimes that are (or were) charged as misdemeanors elsewhere are charged as felonies in yolo. so while it may be true that davis gets some property crime because it’s quick off and on to the freeway coupled with complacency, a lot of people avoid yolo because if they get caught, they get hammered.