Davis police outline tougher enforcement, mutual aid and campus coordination for Picnic Day

Deputy Chief Matt Peterson of the Davis Police Department presented the city’s Picnic Day safety plan, saying the department has asked for mutual aid and will step up enforcement ahead of the annual campus event.

Peterson said the department reached out to agencies outside Yolo County and has commitments that ‘‘we'll be increasing our staffing probably between 50 to 60 additional than we've even gotten from Yolo county.’’ He described a unified command structure that includes liaisons with UC Davis, campus emergency operations and a coordinated incident-action plan.

Why it matters: City and school-district leaders said the shift reflects recent violence near a school and the large influx of people on Picnic Day that has, in prior years, strained local resources and hospital capacity. Peterson said the city will reimplement ‘‘safety enhancement zones’’ with doubled fines, a temporary alcohol ban in parks and will not issue event permits for the Picnic Day period to reduce large, hard-to-manage gatherings.

Peterson described specific operational steps: pairing outside mutual-aid officers with Davis officers so local officers lead enforcement, deploying ‘‘scout’’ teams to monitor known hotspots, and a designated liaison for school-district coordination around track meets or other campus events. On parade staffing he said UC Davis Police ‘‘has agreed to staff the majority of positions necessary to handle that parade route,’’ which Peterson said frees Davis officers to respond to city calls.

Trustees asked about medical readiness and hospital notifications; Peterson said the incident-action plan includes a medical component and hospital backups. He also addressed the question of what behaviors will trigger enforcement, saying officers will prioritize unlawful conduct over simply dispersing assemblies but that specific violations (including those tied to the alcohol ban and noise ordinances) will be enforced more actively this year.

On whether cannabis is treated the same way as alcohol in the enhancement zones, Peterson said marijuana ‘‘is not... included as like a specific violation in the enhancement zone’’ but that the enhancement-zone list targets certain violations tied to public-safety risks.

Next steps: Peterson and staff said they will continue planning meetings with UC Davis and the school district (a security planning meeting was scheduled for the district the day after the presentation), distribute co-branded signage and a flyer in utility bills, and maintain public messaging through the city’s channels. The police department and city staff will return to their agencies with operational assignments and public information plans.