About
the Santa Barbara Police Department
The Santa
Barbara Police Department is organized into five divisions: Chief and Support Staff; Support Services; Community Services;
Investigative; and, Patrol. The Patrol Division is of the Santa Barbara Police Department is commanded by a Police Captain,
staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Patrol is divided into 7 Teams of officers,
who work a specific Watch. Each Watch is commanded by a Police Lieutenant and
each Team is supervised by a Sergeant.
Each Team
has two Crime Scene Investigators (CSI). They are uniformed police officers whose
primary function is the collection and preservation of evidence at crime scenes. Evidence
includes latent fingerprints searches, photography, and collection and packaging of other physical evidence. They also perform the normal duties of a patrol officer when not engaged in crime scene work. Each Team
also has a Field Training Officer (FTO), who is charged with the responsibility of training new police officers who graduate
from the Police Academy. They have additional responsibility for covering all
Team training evaluation of new employees. They wear a small corporal insignia
on their collar.
The Santa
Barbara Police Department divides the city into 6 Beats. Police officers are
assigned a specific Beat during a 1 year assignment. The Patrol Sergeants are
responsible for direct field supervision of the police officers. In the absence of a Lieutenant, a Sergeant will assume the
title of Watch Commander. The Sergeant's primary mission is to oversee the daily
activities of the police officers under their direction and to be a resource for training and coordinator of field activities.
The Assistant
Division Commander is a Lieutenant who is the adjutant to the Captain and has the responsibility for managing many of the
specialty units within the division. These specialty units are: Chaplains; Combined
Communication Center; Crisis Response Team; Drinking Driver Team; Canine; Traffic/Motorcycle Police; Night Life Enforcement
Team; Reserves; Special Events / Tactical Planning Officer; Special Enforcement Team; SWAT Team; and, Tactical Patrol Force
The Investigative
Division of the Santa Barbara Police Department is commanded by a Captain and a Lieutenant.
There are four Sergeants who are responsible for specific functions of criminal investigations. The authorized strength of police officers (detectives) is eighteen and there may be two or more trainees
attached to the Division at any one time. All of these sworn officers produce
a substantial amount of work which must be typed, logged, separated, duplicated, carried and otherwise handled by an administrative
support staff.
The administrative
support staff for this division is comprised of two Senior Clerks, one Police Technician, and one Cadet. They handle all the work the Detectives produce, plus a variety of other tasks. The Police Technician performs a variety of technical, non-sworn law enforcement duties. Provides technical support in the Investigative Division serves as liaison between the Police Department
and the District Attorney, Courts and Juvenile Hall. Specialized Detective units of the Santa Barbara Police Department are:
Auto Theft; Burglary; Cold Case; Forensic Science Unit; Narcotics/Vice; Crimes Against Persons; Polygraph; Special Investigations;
and, Warrants.
Source:
santabarbaraca.gov/