It’s 10 p.m. on a balmy Thursday night. In downtown Davis, the sidewalks begin to fill with people — the majority of them in their 20s, celebrating the end of the first day of fall classes at UC Davis.
Bouncers are out in force, scrutinizing the IDs offered by those who stand in lines, some of them stretching a half a block long. Several businesses that operate as restaurants by day are clearing their floors, transitioning into the nightclub scenes they offer when the much-anticipated weekend arrives.
For Davis police, this day also marks the kickoff of the agency’s fall enforcement plan, where officers use foot patrols to establish their downtown presence in an effort to promote and maintain public safety.
“We anticipate the nightlife increasing because the students are back,” and many don’t have classes the next day, Lt. Glenn Glasgow said. “So this is kind of like their Friday, if you will.”
For Officers Scott Holck and Josh Mares, that means walking their designated three-square-block area of downtown “where we have the largest concentration of licensed establishments,” Glasgow said.
Their “home base,” so to speak, is the corner of Second and G, where multiple bars and nightclubs — Froggy’s, Our House, Tres Hermanas, Red 88, G Street Wunderbar and KetMoRee — are within their line of sight.
“Ultimately, around 2 o’clock in the morning, this is our focus. Most people will end up over here,” Mares said.
As the night’s festivities get underway, the officers stop by the various bars and nightclubs on and around G Street, handing out their contact information to the owners and bouncers so they know how to summon help should any issues arise.
“We’ll be out here all night if you need anything,” Holck tells one employee at Bistro 33, where Mojito Night specials have attracted a line that stretches to the corner of Third and F streets.
In addition to making themselves known to local businesses, the officers are on the lookout for potential problems — many of them alcohol-related — ranging from public urination and open containers to people starting fights or carrying weapons in public.
It’s been a number of years since Davis police transitioned to foot patrols in the downtown area, a strategy they say achieves multiple enforcement goals.
“We want the officers to be more interactive with the establishments as we foster that relationship,” Glasgow said.
Officers say being on foot also makes them more approachable by the public, and increases their visibility as well.
“People are less likely to do something if they see us,” Mares said.
Police say they are seeing changes in the downtown bar scene. While calls for service haven’t increased dramatically over the past several years, “what we are seeing is an increase in the level of violence,” including the display and use of weapons such as knives and firearms, said Assistant Police Chief Darren Pytel.
“It comes in waves,” Holck said.
On this particular Thursday night, people’s minds are very much on the recent fatal stabbing of a 23-year-old Los Angeles man, Peter Alexander Gonzales, who was assaulted early Sept. 19 while coming to aid of his two brothers during a fight at the KetMoRee nightclub at Third and G streets.
“I never thought about it happening here. Maybe in bigger cities, but not Davis,” said UCD student Daniel Mulugrata, 22, while en route to Froggy’s with several friends.
Such incidents typically trigger an investigation with the California Alcoholic Beverage Control, and while agency officials would not confirm or deny that such a probe is underway in this case, “anytime there is a violent incident at an ABC-licensed business, the department takes these matters very seriously in its ongoing public safety mission,” spokesman John Carr said.
KetMoRee’s nightclub scene was shuttered the night after the homicide, but was back in business on this Thursday. The owner and bar manager declined to comment on the incident or say whether it triggered any changes in their operations.
Regarding the police presence downtown, however, bar manager Sandeep Tahal said, “We’ve always had a good working relationship with them, and we appreciate what they do.”
The suspects in the stabbing — five of whom have been arrested, while one remains at large — hailed from Vacaville, and some say it’s the out-of-towners who tend to bring a more violent element to Davis’ nightlife.
In addition to murder, the stabbing suspects stand accused of participating in Norteño criminal street gang activity, another element that Pytel, the assistant police chief, said is on the rise in Davis.
David Van Hill, a bouncer at Tres Hermanas, observed that out-of-towners bring with them “a different dress, a different attitude.”
“Anybody who comes from out of town is a problem. They come here to fight and represent their ‘hood,” Van Hill said as revelers dispersed after closing time. “And if there’s not enough girls, they’ll look for something else to do, and they’ll fight somebody.”
As 2 a.m. closing time approaches, the police visibility increases, with additional officers arriving downtown by vehicle and motorcycle. They gravitate toward Tres Hermanas after someone reports seeing a man with a gun on the patio.
“We see his friends, but we don’t see him,” Holck said. Officers ultimately search a man in his 20s matching the suspect’s description, but he’s released when no weapon is found.
The fall enforcement operation will last six weeks, until late October, when colder weather and school exams tend to send revelers indoors for the winter. It starts again in the spring as the downtown’s nightlife ramps up again.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene