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.

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