Starting Monday, June 27th, the Sheriff's Department will begin operating on a less than bare bones budget as vital frontline positions are cut and the Santa Maria jail closes its doors. Even after 3 consecutive years of staff reductions, and $5.2 million in concessions given by 460 DSA members since 2008, the Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 1 to slash $6.4 million from an already minimum operating budget. 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino cast the only vote in support of saving essential public safety services.

In effect the vote is a salary and benefit increase for the most dedicated criminals operating in Santa Barbara County. Less attention paid to illicit drug and gang activity produces a less proactive and more reactive law enforcement presence. Simply put, our specialized detectives will now be working a beat where they’ll be answering alarm and barking dog calls instead of focusing direct attention on some of the worst predators in our districts.

North county communities will be hit especially hard with the closure of the Santa Maria jail. Coming before the BOS Mayor Larry Lavagnino said, “You’ll be sentencing our police officers to daily trips up and down Highway 101, instead of doing the jobs they were trained and hired to do. Santa Maria will become a more dangerous place, as we will have no other alternative other than to increase our cite-and-release of arrestees.”

Transporting arrestees to Santa Barbara is the job of Custody Deputies assigned to the Santa Maria jail. Once the SM jail closes north county Deputy Sheriffs, Police Officers and CHP Officers will be removed from service for no less than 3 hours to book an arrest, thus taking them far from the citizens they are assigned to protect and serve.

The 2011/12 county budget approved by the Board of Supervisors was in excess of $844,000,000. Minimum staffing for the Santa Maria jail would cost $1,200,000 for the year, but only $360,000 was provided. The supervisors voted for the following amounts:

The remaining $840,000 for the Santa Maria jail is less than 0.001% of the total county budget for the next fiscal year. It is the responsibility of the Board of Supervisors to fund basic law enforcement services for the citizens of Santa Barbara County. The DSA Board of Directors is working hard with county administration to save our members from layoff.

Members of the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association will continue to protect and serve our communities to the best of our abilities throughout the county. The only obstacle hindering our members from providing optimal protection in your community is the resources provided through funding.

Click the above Supervisor’s name to email your support for funding the men and women hired to protect our communities.