Chief Darren Pytel Archives

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My View: Police Need to Stop Using Profanity during Stops and Critical Incidents

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: July 31, 2021
| (21) Comments

My View: Police Need to Stop Using Profanity during Stops and Critical Incidents

By David M. Greenwald Executive Editor This past week I have had the opportunity to view an exceptional a ...

By David M. Greenwald Executive Editor This past week I have had the opportunity to view an exceptional amount of police body-worn camera footage. Following incidents like that in Ferguson and with E ...

July 31, 2021
| by David Greenwald

| (21) Comments

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Sunday Commentary: Not Everything Is about Race – But Too Much Still Is

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: April 11, 2021
| (37) Comments

Sunday Commentary: Not Everything Is about Race – But Too Much Still Is

By David M. Greenwald I have been struck by some of the comments and discussions this week. As I noted i ...

By David M. Greenwald I have been struck by some of the comments and discussions this week. As I noted in an earlier column, Chief Darren Pytel seems to conflate personal bias with systemic racism. T ...

April 11, 2021
| by David Greenwald

| (37) Comments

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Council Votes to Move Homeless Services Out of Police Department, No Vote on Independent Public Safety Department

Posted by Vanguard Court Watch Interns
|Date: April 07, 2021
| (30) Comments

Council Votes to Move Homeless Services Out of Police Department, No Vote on Independent Public Safety Department

By Iliana Magana and Jordan Varney DAVIS -- At the April 6 Davis City Council meeting, council discussed ...

By Iliana Magana and Jordan Varney DAVIS -- At the April 6 Davis City Council meeting, council discussed and took action on the staff report generated in response to the nine recommendations of the Te ...

April 07, 2021
| by Vanguard Court Watch Interns

| (30) Comments

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Commentary: Chief Pytel Dispels Notion that Pacifico Is Some Sort of Crime Hotspot

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: January 22, 2021
| (39) Comments

Commentary: Chief Pytel Dispels Notion that Pacifico Is Some Sort of Crime Hotspot

By David M. Greenwald I don’t disagree that there are ongoing problems in the area around Pacifico as det ...

By David M. Greenwald I don’t disagree that there are ongoing problems in the area around Pacifico as detailed by a number of neighbors over the last few years, but the link to Pacifico itself has alw ...

January 22, 2021
| by David Greenwald

| (39) Comments

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Davis Police Chief Says Pacifico Is Not a Drug or Crime Hotspot

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: January 20, 2021
| (6) Comments

Davis Police Chief Says Pacifico Is Not a Drug or Crime Hotspot

By David M. Greenwald Council on Tuesday night agreed to move forward with staff recommendations on Pacif ...

By David M. Greenwald Council on Tuesday night agreed to move forward with staff recommendations on Pacifico to take out a new RFP (Request for Proposals) and find new temporary management for the sit ...

January 20, 2021
| by David Greenwald

| (6) Comments

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Chief Acknowledges Errors in Handling of ‘Karen’ Case

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: July 25, 2020
| (14) Comments

Chief Acknowledges Errors in Handling of ‘Karen’ Case

A few weeks ago the Vanguard reported on complaints that Dr. Khoa Lam had in encounters with two resident ...

A few weeks ago the Vanguard reported on complaints that Dr. Khoa Lam had in encounters with two residents of Moore Apartments in Davis which ultimately led to the police being called. Among his compl ...

July 25, 2020
| by David Greenwald

| (14) Comments

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Davis Police Chief Explains Show of Force on Richards Overpass

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: June 02, 2020
| (7) Comments

Davis Police Chief Explains Show of Force on Richards Overpass

On Sunday evening the Vanguard became aware that there was a short-lived standoff between the Davis Polic ...

On Sunday evening the Vanguard became aware that there was a short-lived standoff between the Davis Police, joined by CHP officers in full riot gear with a relatively small group of protesters. In a t ...

June 02, 2020
| by David Greenwald

| (7) Comments

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Police Chief Reports Crime Steady with Some Concerns; Council Supportive of Adding Cameras

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: December 04, 2019
| (36) Comments

Police Chief Reports Crime Steady with Some Concerns; Council Supportive of Adding Cameras

While a rash of robberies, two carjackings and a ring of catalytic converter thefts make for concerning h ...

While a rash of robberies, two carjackings and a ring of catalytic converter thefts make for concerning headlines, the report delivered by Police Chief Darren Pytel on Tuesday was that crime was large ...

December 04, 2019
| by David Greenwald

| (36) Comments

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Monday Morning Thoughts: DPD Tries Again on Armored Rescue Vehicle

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: September 23, 2019
| (40) Comments

Monday Morning Thoughts: DPD Tries Again on Armored Rescue Vehicle

It has been five years since the last time the Davis Police Department attempted to acquire an armored re ...

It has been five years since the last time the Davis Police Department attempted to acquire an armored rescue vehicle (ARV). However, in the aftermath of Ferguson and concerns about the militarizatio ...

September 23, 2019
| by David Greenwald

| (40) Comments

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Commentary: There Are Legitimate Problems at Pacifico, but Some of the Public Comments Were Inappropriate

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: February 21, 2019
| (20) Comments

Commentary: There Are Legitimate Problems at Pacifico, but Some of the Public Comments Were Inappropriate

There were legitimate complaints from people living in the area to be sure. But there was not an adequate ...

There were legitimate complaints from people living in the area to be sure. But there was not an adequate distinction at times between the population its and the management (or lack there of) of the f ...

February 21, 2019
| by David Greenwald

| (20) Comments

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City Denying Requests to Release Picnic Day Records under New Law

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: February 21, 2019
| (2) Comments

City Denying Requests to Release Picnic Day Records under New Law

As the city wrote on January 10, 2019: “The finding concerning the press release was that the initial pre ...

As the city wrote on January 10, 2019: “The finding concerning the press release was that the initial press release issued by DPD following the Picnic Day incident was inaccurate but there was no find ...

February 21, 2019
| by David Greenwald

| (2) Comments

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Commentary: Incident Shows Us that Once the Well is Poisoned, It Is Hard to Restore Faith in the System

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: October 23, 2018
| (40) Comments

Commentary: Incident Shows Us that Once the Well is Poisoned, It Is Hard to Restore Faith in the System

When the Westergaards first approached me two years ago, they were very frustrated, not only with the res ...

When the Westergaards first approached me two years ago, they were very frustrated, not only with the result of the police investigation into the very serious collision in which Deb Westergaard suffer ...

October 23, 2018
| by David Greenwald

| (40) Comments

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Sunday Commentary: Chief Pytel Owes Us a Better Explanation

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: April 08, 2018
| (26) Comments

Sunday Commentary: Chief Pytel Owes Us a Better Explanation

When I first read the police account on April 24 of last year, I immediately questioned the veracity of t ...

When I first read the police account on April 24 of last year, I immediately questioned the veracity of the press release. Some of it was gut feeling and intuition. But some of it was that the scena ...

April 08, 2018
| by David Greenwald

| (26) Comments

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Aggressive Panhandling Ordinance Draws Controversy, but Council Passes Package on Homeless, Panhandling and Downtown Public Restrooms

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: March 21, 2018
| (37) Comments

Aggressive Panhandling Ordinance Draws Controversy, but Council Passes Package on Homeless, Panhandling and Downtown Public Restrooms

On Tuesday night the council tackled a host of issues related to panhandling and the homeless population. ...

On Tuesday night the council tackled a host of issues related to panhandling and the homeless population. The issue of downtown bathrooms was not contested. Rochelle Swanson added to the staff recom ...

March 21, 2018
| by David Greenwald

| (37) Comments

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Monday Morning Thoughts: Chief Pytel on the Ordinance and Police in the Big Picture of Homelessness

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: January 15, 2018
| (29) Comments

Monday Morning Thoughts: Chief Pytel on the Ordinance and Police in the Big Picture of Homelessness

Those who have been advocating for police-based solutions to homeless-related problems should listen care ...

Those who have been advocating for police-based solutions to homeless-related problems should listen carefully to the words of Police Chief Darren Pytel. Back in May, the chief explained that they can ...

January 15, 2018
| by David Greenwald

| (29) Comments

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Council Asks Staff to Come Back with an ACLU-Modeled Surveillance Ordinance

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: September 20, 2017
| (12) Comments

Council Asks Staff to Come Back with an ACLU-Modeled Surveillance Ordinance

At last night’s city council meeting, the Davis City Council did not formally vote on a surveillance ordi ...

At last night’s city council meeting, the Davis City Council did not formally vote on a surveillance ordinance, but they made it clear they favored an ACLU-modeled ordinance over the alternative put f ...

September 20, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (12) Comments

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A Check In on the Mayor’s Expectations for Picnic Day List

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: September 01, 2017
| 0 comments

A Check In on the Mayor’s Expectations for Picnic Day List

In mid-May, as the community was deep into the question of the Picnic Day incident and what would happen ...

In mid-May, as the community was deep into the question of the Picnic Day incident and what would happen with the investigation moving forward, Mayor Robb Davis published in the Vanguard an article en ...

September 01, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| 0 comments

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Islamic Center Suspect Faces Six Years and Is Being Held on $1 Million Bail

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: February 15, 2017
| (56) Comments

Islamic Center Suspect Faces Six Years and Is Being Held on $1 Million Bail

On Tuesday, Davis Police along with the FBI and Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced the a ...

On Tuesday, Davis Police along with the FBI and Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced the arrest of Lauren Kirk-Coehlo, a 30-year-old Davis resident, in connection with the January 22 in ...

February 15, 2017
| by David Greenwald

| (56) Comments

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My View II: Reflections on the Last Two Weeks and the Future of Policing

Posted by David Greenwald
|Date: July 16, 2016
| (44) Comments

My View II: Reflections on the Last Two Weeks and the Future of Policing

In two weeks, I will have been doing this stuff for ten years – which is a long time to be doing somethin ...

In two weeks, I will have been doing this stuff for ten years – which is a long time to be doing something that, in many ways, is constantly evolving. The last two weeks have been very interesting, w ...

July 16, 2016
| by David Greenwald

| (44) Comments

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