Police present Q4 mission strategies report: increases in calls for service, Narcan deployments and directed patrols

Commander Charlie Kitsapas presented the Santa Barbara Police Department’s mission-strategies report for Q4 2024 on Jan. 23, summarizing four performance areas: reducing harm, relationship building and quality of life, felt presence, and service.

Kitsapas said the department saw about a 10% increase in calls for service in the quarter (roughly 800 more calls), a 5% increase in misdemeanor arrests and a 6% increase in felony arrests compared with Q4 2023, and about 1,000 traffic stops in the quarter. He highlighted 33 Narcan deployments, which the department treats as potential lives saved. The department also reported a 22% increase in parking citations (about 10,729 citations in the quarter) and 917 volunteer-in-policing (VIP) hours.

Kitsapas described the co-response program — an officer partnered with a clinician — noting two co-response teams provide seven-day coverage and performed 55 mental-health follow-ups in the quarter. He also reported a 66% increase in focus-area directed patrols and 4,685 on-view calls for service (officer-initiated activity).

Response-time metrics: priority-1 response (goal 7 minutes) averaged 5.7 minutes; priority-2 (goal 14.5 minutes) averaged 14.5 minutes; priority-3 (goal 30 minutes) averaged 43.5 minutes; priority-4 (goal 50 minutes) averaged 57.6 minutes. Kitsapas said the department met the priority-1 and -2 goals but exceeded goals for priorities 3 and 4 and that the department experienced a 10% increase in call volume compared with the prior year.

In Q&A the commander said increases in arrests can be partly explained by increased proactive activity including focused-area checks and contacts with individuals on probation or parole. Kitsapas said he would follow up on how on-view calls compare with preceding quarters when he can access the data.