Davis City Council dedicates entire meeting to addressing string of stabbings
DAVIS — The Davis City Council took the unprecedented step of changing their regularly scheduled meeting and taking all planned agenda items off the table to dedicate the entire meeting to discussing the recent stabbings.
"I know that our community is struggling and there is a lot of fear out there," Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel said at the meeting.
During the meeting, Pytel updated city leaders on the series of violent attacks, saying more law enforcement resources are now on the streets.
"By mid-morning, we had more than double the size of the department, adding on additional investigators," Chief Pytel said.
They're also getting help from the community.
"We opened up a tip line and we're taking emails," Chief Pytel said. "We've gotten a significant number of tips."
Chief Pytel also admitted his department got a call about a possible suspect sighting in the area of the third attack before it happened.
"It wasn't prioritized at the highest level, and as it turns out, it's likely that the information was accurate and that probably was the suspect who ended up stabbing the third victim," he said.
Council members asked the chief what more can be done to keep the city safe.
"How feasible or effective would temporary lighting in parks and/or surveillance cameras be?" Councilmember Bapu Vaitla asked Chief Pytel.
"At this particular time, I would make recommendations that we put up temporary cameras in some of the locations," Chief Pytel responded.
Community members in attendance of the meeting spoke out about the attacks.
"My feeling is a little bit of panic, obviously lots of fear," one woman said.
"We never thought we would have a stabbing spree in Davis," one man said.
The city is also beginning extra outreach to the homeless community since two of the three victims were unhoused.