Law Enforcement

When this site was founded back on July 30, 2006 on the original free blogspot site with the white writing and the black background, our tag line was “A Vivid Description of the Dark Underbelly of the People’s Republic of Davis.”  While that tagline is no longer in use, it remains perhaps the most poignant description of what we do.

This week is the reminder of why that remains an apt description of this site.  We began this week with base ugliness.  The hanging of a noose at the Davis Football Stadium, followed by the discovery of graffiti of a Swastika and the word “Nigger,” are stark reminders to us about a dark history from a not-so-distant past.

By Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald

A noose was found hanging from the goal post at Davis High School and some people say it was a prank. This is the same high school where, nearly 30 years ago, Thong Hy Huynh was stabbed to death in a hateful, race-related act and where hateful messages have been spray-painted on the walls at various times over the years.

Again, some say it was a prank or kids simply being insensitive.

Community Meeting Held to Discuss Incident and Stand Strong Against the Hanging of the Noose at DHS

A diverse group of community members ranging from high school age on up, of all different races and ethnicities, gathered at the Davis High School library to discuss and better understand the noose incident.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven, a Davis resident, announced that on his morning run he had found under the bike and pedestrian underpass connecting UC Davis with South Davis, a Swastika and graffiti that said, “Nigger.”

Everybody responds to news differently.  Davis, a diverse community with all sorts of viewpoints, has responded in its own way and everyone has a different response to the noose incident at Davis High.

The response has been made more difficult by the uncertain nature of the incident.  We do not know why the incident occurred – whether it was meant as a joke or inspired by actual hate.  And quite frankly, it does not matter.

An investigation is underway into what the Davis Police Department is investigating as a hate incident, the hanging of a noose, found by Davis School District Safety Coordinator Marc Hicks on Friday, hanging from the goalposts at the Davis School football field.

Details are sketchy at the moment and Superintendent Winfred Roberson and Mayor Joe Krovoza are reportedly expected to issue a joint statement, perhaps as soon as today, after officials found a noose hanging from the uprights of the south goal post at the Davis High Stadium during the Juneteenth celebration this past weekend.

The investigation is still underway.  Officials are taking this matter very seriously, believing it very important that all people in this community feel safe.

Major media figures, as well as some public officials in this town, appear to have a clear agenda about Picnic Day, which would be fine if we actually had the final data.  But the Vanguard, in making a records request from the Davis Police Department was told that with the police chief and their records analyst taking the week off, a more comprehensive report is not even due out until next week.

What that suggests to me is perhaps we have to hold off making major pronouncements until we get all the data.  That of course has not and will not stop certain columnists from proclaiming “Picnic Day arrest numbers are clearly unacceptable.”

The early reports I heard regarding Picnic Day seemed encouraging, other than a couple of high profile cases – a tasering and a knife, otherwise, things were relatively calm in Davis.  None of the out of control shenanigans of 2010.

The reported level of arrests was 51 – a bit higher than perhaps we would like, but given the police presence, not wholly surprising.  There were also just over 100 citations.

Two years ago, Picnic Day resulted in huge problems in the community, as heavy drinking and a large out-of-town population resulted in huge numbers of assaults that threatened the prospect of future Picnic Days.

As a letter from March 28, 2011, indicated, co-signed by Mayor Joe Krovoza and Chancellor Linda Katehi, the city and campus took a number of steps to reduce the problems, including the creation of a Safety Enhancement Zone which increases the fines for violations in downtown areas.  That SEZ has been expanded this year into areas north of Fifth Street in the city’s core.

Vanguard Gets Data on Calls for Service

Last night Davis Police Chief Landy Black followed up on a council request for a criminal statistics report.  The report comes on the heels of the much publicized arrest of a suspect involved in at least some of a string of burglaries in Davis.

The Vanguard, following up on a story last month, also requested data on calls for service by address.  As Chief Black told the Vanguard, it is difficult, without a very time-consuming examination, call-by-call, to make a whole lot out of that data, but we will present that as well as his comments to the Vanguard.

On these pages, we have not talked much about the rash of burglaries in Davis in the early part of the year.  As of early March, there had been 31 break-ins, along with eight attempted burglaries in Davis this year.  That number may now be approaching 50.

I was reading a letter to the Davis Enterprise discussing citizen patrols and whether citizens should be patrolling neighborhoods.

Police Chief Landy Black was back before the Davis City Council to push for passage of the Minor Alcohol Preclusion Act, that would make it an infraction, payable with what would ultimately be a 240 dollar fine for an individual under 21, to be caught having consumed enough alcohol to register a .01% blood alcohol content, in the City of Davis.

On Tuesday we will find out the long-awaited results of the pepper-spray report.  Many are bracing themselves for a whitewashing, but I don’t think that is going to happen.  The reason that is not going to happen is that Cruz Reynoso is not going to allow it to happen.

I know that he would have preferred to have been able to speak with, or at least have the Kroll investigators speak with, Lt. John Pike and the police chief, but apparently they have enough to know who did what and who ordered whom to do what.

On January 10, 2012, Davis Police Chief Landy Black and city staff caught the Davis City Council off-guard by presenting an ordinance to preclude minors from drinking.

Chief Black told the Council, “We’re trying to do this in our efforts for 2012’s Picnic Day.”  He added, “Regardless of when it’s adopted it’s a good ordinance, it’s not going to be just a Picnic Day ordinance.”

In an effort to prevent a repeat of Picnic Day 2010’s problems, the City of Davis created a Safety Enhancement Zone which basically doubled the fines and penalties for a variety of acts of public nuisance on Picnic Day 2011.  In addition, the city brought in a huge amount of out-of-town police to beef up patrols.

Despite a notable tragic event, the number of major incidents during Picnic Day last year was lower.  However, the heavy enforcement and safety enhancement concept have been a source of concern by residents in Old North Davis, who live just north of 5^th Street and just above the safety enhancement zone.

The final version of that motion did incorporate language that left issues open and encouraged future discussions.

Like the alcohol issue that we covered last week, this issue of the noise ordinance appears be dividing the city’s residents from the student population.