Isla Vista Foot Patrol Commander Talks New Party Laws

Lieutenant Garrett TeSlaa Discusses County’s New Ordinances Making It Easier for Deputies to Pull Plug on Parties

Santa Barbara County’s new party ordinances will make it easier for deputies to shut down massive parties in Isla Vista like Deltopia, which last year turned into a mass casualty event with one death, 60 medical calls for service, and 33 hospital transports in less than 72 hours. | Credit: Callahan Morgan

Recent ordinances passed by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in December 2023 concerning “consistent party-related issues” will bring significant changes to the Isla Vista Foot Patrol’s (IVFP) policing ability in Isla Vista. The ordinances, which went into effect on February 10, restrict certain party events in Isla Vista, specifically “outdoor festivals,” defined as events open to the public for free or at a cost and attended by five hundred people or more.

Restrictions passed by the county prohibit outdoor festivals and any other live musical performance with more than 250 attendees at any and all residential properties — violators of the ordinances will be subjected to citation or arrest. Additionally, any violators holding an outdoor festival that sells alcohol will be charged with a misdemeanor and face possible arrests.

Lieutenant Garrett TeSlaa began his career with the Sheriff’s Office in 2005 and currently oversees the Isla Vista Foot Patrol. | Credit: Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office

Tasked with overseeing enforcement of these new ordinances is Lieutenant Garrett TeSlaa, who has served as the IVFP bureau commander since 2022. He recently sat down with the Independent to discuss these ordinances and the unique policing of the I.V. community.

A native of Colorado, Lt. TeSlaa began working for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office in 2005 after pivoting careers to law enforcement from the film and music industry nearly 20 years ago. Since joining the Sheriff’s Office, he has held a variety of assignments in court services, internal affairs, criminal investigations, and even for a period of time as a sergeant of the IVFP. More recently, Lt. TeSlaa served as the Chief of Police Services for the Central Bureau of the county, which included Solvang and Buellton. In 2019, Lt. TeSlaa led the Sheriff’s Office Underwater Search and Recovery Team that recovered the victims of the Conception dive boat fire, for which he received the agency’s Unit Citation.

Since his promotion to lieutenant, he has overseen the IVFP, which works in correspondence with the UCSB Campus Police to police Isla Vista. Lt. TeSlaa told the Independent his main concerns are the “large organized parties, overtaking the bluffs,” such as the ones specified in the County ordinances.

“The new ordinances,” he said, look to “condense state law into ordinances that address quality-of-life issues in a residential zone where for-profit commercializing has taken place … aimed with the specific goal of packing people onto beach-side properties.”

Legal battles over for-profit parties have been ongoing since June 2023, when music promoter Red Jooce Project and party app Poppin were sued by an Isla Vista property owner for hosting and allegedly selling tickets to illicit house parties in April 2023 during Deltopia, I.V.’s annual unsanctioned block party. The lawsuit filed in Santa Barbara County Superior Court has not reached a settlement, but demonstrates property owners’ and county officials’ aversion to large promotional parties intended to sell as many tickets as possible.

The laws passed will give the deputies in the IVFP the authority to shut down parties or gatherings when certain activities are observed. These activities include throwing objects, stage diving from raised structures or balconies, congregating on rooftops, or “climbing over, under, or around any bluff barrier.”

However, Lt. TeSlaa said that overall, “Isla Vista has not had the same level of violence and aggression” like his days as a sergeant in 2017 and that the community of I.V. has been increasingly “cooperative and compliant.” He believes this is due in large part to the restorative justice program, which first launched in 2019 as an alternative method of diversion for low-level, first-time offenses such as minor in possession or open carry of alcohol.

The readiness of the opioid-overdose-reversing drug Narcan, drug-testing strips, and education on drug overdoses have helped stabilize the rates of fentanyl overdoses, but, Lt. TeSlaa said “with the drug experimentation going on today … the pervasiveness of fentanyl inevitably leads to more overdoses and more deaths.” Last year, 21-year-old UCSB junior Jude Quirinale died of an apparent opioid overdose during Deltopia weekend.

A major concern in I.V. also includes sexual assaults and physical violence. While sexual assault numbers have decreased since his time as a sergeant in 2017, sexual assaults still mostly occur at the beginning of the school year.

“One is too many,” said Lt. TeSlaa, “which is why sexual assault investments are one of our [IVFP] and the Sheriff’s Office top priorities.”

When mentioning that I.V. has become a safer, less violent place, Lt. TeSlaa said the credit is due to “more cognizant citizens and the cooperative relationship the IVFP has been able to establish with the community.”

“There’s always going to be some level of disconnect,” continued Lt. TeSlaa. “But it’s just the nature of Isla Vista.”

He finished the conversation by stating that he hopes the new ordinances — as well as the work being done by County Supervisor Laura Capps to promote bluff safety following 19-year-old Santa Barbara City College student Benny Schurmer’s fatal fall from the cliffs in I.V. last September — will build a safer Isla Vista and reduce the increasing dangers posed by cliff erosion.