A New Age of Police Accountability in City of Santa Barbara

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, communities across the country began a push for more accountability in law enforcement, and here in Santa Barbara, advocates asked for a new model of civilian oversight. In the following two years, there was intense debate between city leadership, police, and community advocates to decide how this new oversight should be handled.

Eventually, in October 2022, the city decided to fold the community oversight responsibilities into the already existing Fire and Police Commission, but with a fresh roster of experts who could help keep Santa Barbara on its path into a new age of policing. In December 2022, the five new commissioners were appointed, and on January 26, 2023, the newly reconstituted Fire and Police Commission met for the first time. 

This Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council received the first-ever annual report on community oversight from the new commission, which found that there were 26 complaints of police misconduct — only eight of which were sustained — out of a total of 47,232 calls for service and 3,989 arrests in 2023.

Barbara Andersen, senior assistant to the city administrator, has worked firsthand with the commission and the police department over the past year as the “police monitor,” meeting weekly to go over complaints and receive updates on open investigations. Before presenting the report to the council, she took a moment to celebrate the long road to this new era of transparency.

“This day is close to four years in the making,” Andersen said. “So I do want to take a moment to share our appreciation for the community leaders that advocated tirelessly for this level of transparency, and to all our law enforcement officers who have been incredibly collaborative and supportive in implementing this new system of oversight.” 

In its first year, she said, the new-look commission has already completed an audit of the department, which was submitted last April along with 31 recommendations for improvements to the department. To date, 25 have been implemented.

The commission also reworked the complaint forms to make them more accessible in both English and Spanish, and the group received a quarterly complaint report — something also never done before 2023.

What Andersen found out is that, in Santa Barbara’s newest age of policing under Chief Kelly Gordon, there is an increased emphasis on documentation and reporting, and the department is more consistent in communication with complainants both during the process and post-investigation. Investigations into complaints are also handled much more quickly — averaging 99 days, Andersen said — and the department is more thorough with documenting de-escalation efforts as part of use-of-force investigations.

A breakdown of the 26 complaints received in 2023 showed that eight were unfounded, nine were exonerated, one was not sustained, and eight were sustained. The sustained complaints resulted in three referrals for corrective counseling, one written reprimand, two suspensions, one demotion, and one termination. The report did not disclose the identity of the employee who was terminated or the nature of the complaint.

Chief Gordon, who took over the department in September 2022 — just a month before the new commission was formed — said the fact that there were so few complaints, representing 0.04 percent of police interactions in the city, was a testament to the “several systems in place” that all work together to keep the department accountable and available to the public. 

“I think the low number of complaints that you are going to see is not by accident; I firmly believe that,” Gordon said. “Change is hard —we all know that — but the team has made an active decision to roll up their sleeves and make it happen, and the credit has to be fully given to all of them that have chosen to do the work. We will continue to grow, we will continue to adapt, and we will continue to move forward.”

Lizzie Rodriguez, one of the newly appointed Fire and Police commissioners, spoke during public comment, and said that Santa Barbara’s progressive policies and low number of police misconduct reports could serve as an example for other cities instituting similar civilian oversight boards. She was the only person to speak during public comment, which several councilmembers saw as an indication that the city was on the right track.

“When this all started there were a lot of members of the public in the room,” said Councilmember Eric Friedman. “And the fact that there are very few today, and no complaints, just shows that we’ve really stepped up and are really taking the community’s concerns and priorities seriously.”

But the work is far from done, and the commission already has a detailed work plan for 2024, including plans to update its policies to align with its new duties and an increased focus on community outreach. To view all past commission meetings, visit the city’s YouTube page.