Santa Barbara Posts High Arrest Rates
County Ranks 14th in the State
While crime rates in Santa Barbara County continue to drop, arrests rates remain high. According to the Public Policy Institute of California and 2016 data, Santa Barbara County ranked 14th in the highest number of arrest rates in California. The county arrests 5,856 individuals for every 100,000 people, well above California’s rate of 3,428 per 100,000 residents.
Arrests rates for men in Santa Barbara have dropped in the last several years from 12,861 per 100,000 in 2009 to 9,023 for 2016, according to the data. Women’s rates have remained fairly steady, hovering between 3,000 and 2,500 per 100,000 residents.
Fifteen percent of all arrests in the county are for ordinance violations. That number is followed by miscellaneous traffic violations arrests (10 percent), drug violations (10 percent), driving under the influence (8 percent), and failure to appear in court (6 percent).
