📋

Extracted from Consolidated Report

This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.

Santa Barbara County Grand Jury • 2025-2026

Criminal Justice Committee Review Grand Jury Reports

Published: June 23, 2026 191 pages Consolidated Report

View PDF View Full Original

⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings 8 findings

The Memo of Understanding (MOU) between Santa Barbara County and the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association contains provisions that compound the overtime issues within the Sheriff’s Office.

Staff and managerial training are provided to the Sheriff’s Office by the County but, historically, management have not been accountable for evaluating and implementing that training.

The current payroll system is ineffective for the Sheriff’s needs today. It does not allow the Sheriffs’ Office to effectively track, analyze, or report regular hours and overtime for a dynamic and mobile workforce.

Increased staffing costs are exacerbated by the administration of two jail facilities.

There is no recurring, public process for the community to help understand and prioritize planned SB Connect improvements.

Not all schools in Santa Barbara County have adequate safety infrastructure, including fences, cameras, classrooms that lock from the inside, restricted access points, and instantaneous communication devices.

Socially isolated students can benefit from engagement with responsible mentors as a deterrent to negative manipulation by outside influences, such as gangs, social media, or other ongoing stresses in family life.

A task force comprised of governmental and community-based organizations in the area would aid local authorities to reduce gang effectiveness.

Recommendations 21

R1

The Grand Jury recommends that each education governing board, where listed in Table 1 below, review agenda language and public comment instructions to plainly state that speaker cards, sign-up sheets, and online forms are optional tools used solely to help organize public comment, and to affirm that any person may address the board during public comment periods without providing a name, address, or other personal identifying information.
R1a

The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors negotiate with the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association to revise the Memorandum of Understanding to disallow the use of leave balances as time worked.
R1b

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff set a maximum number of overtime hours per employee per pay period unless approved by a Lieutenant or higher level of management. To be completed
R1c

The Grand Jury recommends that the City provide a clearly visible phone number for residents who need assistance submitting a request, obtaining status, or resolving problems that cannot be handled through SB Connect alone.
R2

The Grand Jury recommends that school boards inform school counselors whenever any students under their guidance engage in bullying.
R2a

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff implement an improved Employee Performance Review system that holds staff and management accountable to manage overtime. To be completed
R2b

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff implement a quarterly review of management practices including timecard approvals and overtime shift approvals. To be completed
R2c

The Grand Jury recommends that the Santa Barbara County school districts provide quick reference situational cards and/or information posters conveying simple instructions for emergency response procedures in every classroom and in public rooms.
R3

The Grand Jury recommends that the County and the Sheriff work together to accelerate the build-out and installation of Workday (the new countywide payroll and human resources management system) for the Sheriff. To be completed
R3a

The Grand Jury recommends that all Santa Barbara County school districts train school personnel on how to gain trust, understand healthy boundaries, and engage in strategic partnerships with community service groups to support student needs.
R3b

The Grand Jury recommends that all Santa Barbara County school districts provide an anonymous reporting mechanism on school-provided devices, in addition to a drop box available on campus.
R3c

The Grand Jury recommends that school boards strongly encourage parents of students who have engaged in repeated acts of bullying to attend outreach programs.
R4

The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff work together to create a decommissioning plan for the Main South County Jail with the goal of closing that facility as quickly as possible. To be completed
R4a

The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors relocate the Oil and Gas Program back to SBCOEM.
R4b

The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors direct SBCOEM to participate in Unified Command during any future oil spill incidents.
R5

The Grand Jury recommends that the Santa Barbara County school districts remind parents and guardians annually of California Penal Code Section 25100 regarding the criminalization of unsafe storage of guns.
R5a

The Grand Jury recommends that the City host a public meeting, at least annually, at which the City presents a roadmap of planned updates and receives public input. These meetings are to continue for at least two years.
R5b

The Grand Jury recommends that the City send a follow-up user experience survey to each resident that submits a service request.
R6

The Grand Jury recommends that all Santa Barbara County school districts have each school conduct an annual security review with respect to video security cameras at key points across school grounds, two-way communications on campus, and innovations, such as artificial intelligence-aided technologies or drones, and make improvements based on those reviews.
R7

The Grand Jury recommends that the Santa Barbara County school districts create systems in their schools to pair socially isolated students with school mentors.
R8

The Grand Jury recommends that the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors form a North County Youth Safety Partnership to work on gang intervention and prevention. REQUIREMENTS FOR RESPONSE Pursuant to California Penal Code Section 933 and 933.05, the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury requests each entity or individual named below to respond to the enumerated findings and recommendations within the specified statutory time limit: Responses to Findings shall be either: • Agree • Disagree wholly • Disagree partially with an explanation Responses to Recommendations shall be one of the following: • Has been implemented, with a summary of implementation actions taken • Will be implemented, with an implementation schedule • Requires further analysis, with an analysis completion date of no more than six months after the issuance of the report • Will not be implemented because it is not warranted or is not reasonable, with an explanation School Boards of the following School Districts – 90 days Ballard School District Blochman Union School District Buellton Union School District Carpinteria Unified School District Cold Spring School District College School District Cuyama Joint Unified School District Goleta Union School District Guadalupe Union School District Hope Elementary School District Lompoc Unified School District Los Olivos School District Montecito Union School District Orcutt Union School District Santa Barbara Unified School District Santa Maria-Bonita School District Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District Solvang School District Vista del Mar Union School District