Law Enforcement

Complaints arose this weekend after Picnic Day saw a rash of street brawls, assaulted women, drunken students, and general destruction.  According to a report in the Sacramento Bee there were 516 calls for service and 33 arrests this past weekend, a number that is more than twice that of previous years.

The Vanguard unusually received a high volume of emails and phone calls from various community members concerned not only with what occurred last weekend, but also that numerous bars opened at 6 a.m. and began serving alcohol.  As one person said via a phone conversation, all this does is contribute to an atmosphere where young people are walking around drunk and intoxicated from the early morning hours on.  What do they expect to occur when alcohol consumption is encouraged at such an early time?

Last week a California circuit issued a ruling on the use of Tasers.  The court limited the use of Tasers to situations where a suspect poses an actual threat.  The court ruled that simply disobeying orders or acting strangely is not enough.  Those officers who fail to adhere to these rules can be sued for excessive force.

On Wednesday, the Sacramento Bee had an interview with Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness about their department’s policies on the use of Tasers.  The Vanguard has asked similar questions of Davis Police Chief Landy Black.  Chief Black also directed us to the Davis Police Department’s policies on the use of Tasers and the use of deadly force.

Our initial report on Saturday did not have access to the staff report because the city’s computer system was down at the time it was written.  The staff report is now available and raises far more questions than answers primarily because it gives no rationale for the exemption other than the fact that the Council voted to direct staff to examine the noise ordinance and suggest approaches to dealing with child care centers and schools.

The issue of the time limitations for the noise ordinance exemption are interesting:

Back in March, Mayor Pro Tem Don Saylor requested an item by a Councilmember on the agenda that would exempt from the City’s Noise Ordinance, Schools and Day Care centers.  Mayor Pro Tem Saylor described the noise as the natural and delightful noise of children.  He openly wondered who could object to the sounds of children, implying that those who did were simply being selfish and insensitive.

The Vanguard immediately identified the source of this request, as for years, the residents of Cezanne Court have been fighting John Hillis, owner of the private for profit Montessori Country Day Care Center.  As one of the neighbors described it to me, the problem is so bad that once school begins at 8:30 am, there is no possibility of resting in their own home.  There is persistent noise throughout the day at levels approaching 90 dbs.  Moreover there is trash and litter thrown throughout various adjacent properties.

In light of four high profile shootings in a two month period there were concerns growing in the community that these shootings were a reflection of a rise in crime that threatened the city of Davis.  Accordingly, the Vanguard acquired the last two years of uniform crime statistics, the same statistics that the city sends on a monthly basis to the Justice Department.

A cursory examination of these statistics however, show little evidence of an increase in the crime rate in Davis over the last two years.  And if anything the categories of burglary and larceny have trended down over that period, assault has remained stable if not a slightly downward trajectory, and motor theft has fluctuated but has at most remained stable if not also a slightly downward trajectory.

Early this past week, Davis Police Officers responded to a request to provide emergency back up for a Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputy responding to a situation on Hanover Drive.  A Sheriff’s deputy was at an apartment complex on Hanover Drive enforcing an eviction order on a resident in the complex.

According to reports from Davis Police, the deputy made contact with the resident at the front door of the apartment.  The deputy was confronted by the resident who was wielding a knife and the deputy shot the resident.

Back in March, an item was placed on the Davis City Council agenda that would exempt from the City’s Noise Ordinance, Schools and Day Care centers.  That effort never came to fruition as the Vanguard ran not one but two articles chronicling the 15 year struggle that the neighbors had with the facility trying to control the noise problems to have a decent quality of life.

While the exemption from the city never occurred, the noise problem remains and has actually worsened.  A letter signed by at least five residents was recently sent to City Manager Bill Emlen and copied to the the Police Chief Landy Black, each of the councilmembers, the Davis Enterprise and the Vanguard.

On the Vanguard, we often focus on the negative–offering criticism to public entities for their service to the public and acting as a watchdog.  For much of the early years on the Vanguard, we were critical of the Davis Police Department.  At the same time, we have often stated that things have improved under the leadership of Chief Landy Black who was hired in early 2007.

Recently, I was a first hand witness to a situation that could have been very negative, but because it was handled promptly, became a net positive for all involved.

Was it really just three years ago that the city of Davis was on the brink?  The city was making regional even national news in a bad way.  The case of young Halema Buzayan punctuating a string of complaints against the Davis Police Department. 

For those not familiar with that case, it should have been a simple case.  The then 16-year-old Buzayan was arrested in June of 2005 for an alleged hit-and-run.  Whether or not the teen was driving the vehicle or the vehicle made contact with the other car are in doubt.  What is not in doubt was a decision to go into the family’s home at night and arrest the girl in her pajama’s.  The family then alleged a series of civil rights violations followed from that point in time, the most serious the allegation that the officer involved ignored pleas for an attorney.  That case is still pending before federal court.  It is moving slowly but depositions have or will shortly begin.

The Vanguard quoted extensively from these comments on Wednesday.  Among other things, Chief Hyde accused the Davis police department of fabricating crime statistics and compared the department and personnel to that of the fictional comedic buffoons of Reno 911.

Former Davis Police Chief Jim Hyde is back in the news, this time as a feature story in a May edition of a local Contra Costa County indy magazine, 110°.  110° Magazine is self-described as a publication that personalizes the community by focusing upon the people, places, and businesses of Contra Costa.

The article on Jim Hyde is bound by a picture of him aiming his weapon towards the reader with a caption that reads:

Today has been one of those days where I have several good ideas for a column, but no great ideas for a column.  For example we have now had two horrific killings of police officers one of course down the road in Oakland and the other in Pittsburgh.  There is not a great local angle on that fortunately, but it is pretty tragic, especially I guess some of the political biproduct that has crept into the latter incident.

There is some interesting legislation that finally looks at tackling runaway state salaries.  Assemblymember Anthony Portantino has introduced legislation that looks to freeze salaries, benefits, overtime, and compensation for those who make over $150,000.  One group not directly addressed in this are UC Employees.  The numbers are staggering at the top end.  Well publicized is President Mark Yudof getting an annual salary last year of over $800,000.

When a business that sells among other things, tobacco related paraphernalia moved to the prominent location at Second and G in the corner space of the Anderson Bank building some members of the council responded by considering an urgency ordinance to create a conditional use permit prohibiting such businesses from that location.  However, it became clear that this would not affect the current occupant who moved to the new location in an expedited manner.

As the staff report reads:

To add fuel to the fire, the Bee recessitates old charges that the climate in Davis involving complaints of racial profiling and the Halema Buzayan case were the prominent if not primary culprits for this turnover rate.

“High-ranking officials from the two departments blame a variety of factors ranging from a new department’s normal break-in period to the way a racially charged incident was handled.”

The Bee quotes Assistant Chief Steve Pierce discussing issues involving the arrest of Halema Buzayan, then 16 in 2005, along with accusations of racial profiling.