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Sheriff's office presents 2024 public safety review; council requests deeper traffic and complaint data
Summary
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office gave its 2024 annual public safety report to the Carpinteria City Council, highlighting a 7.8% decrease in Part I crimes, a 12% increase in Part II crimes, a 36% rise in traffic collisions and a roughly 25% decline in mental-health-related calls; council members asked for more granular data and comparatives to county averages.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office presented the city———s 2024 public safety annual review, summarizing staffing, calls for service and crime trends and answering council questions about performance metrics and community policing activity.
The presenter, identified as the Chief of Police Services for Carpinteria contract operations, said the city contracts with the county sheriff's office for full law enforcement services and described the local staffing model, including a sergeant, senior deputy, two deputies and an administrative professional, with access to countywide resources such as detectives, SWAT, aviation and canine units.
Key statistics highlighted in the presentation: Part I crimes decreased by approximately 7.83% from 2023 to 2024, Part II crimes increased just over 12%, and traffic collisions rose by about 36% year over year. Mental-health-related calls decreased from 521 in 2023 to 393 in 2024, reducing total hours spent on those calls by roughly 100 hours; average time per mental-health call remained about 50 minutes.
Council members asked for finer-grain data on the causes and locations of the traffic-collision increase and suggested reporting complaint and commendation counts in future updates to provide the public with insight into deputies' interactions and service quality. The chief said he has requested further data from his analyst and will return with comparative county figures and location-specific collision analysis when available.
During public comment, residents asked about volunteer opportunities with the sheriff's office and crisis-counseling resources; the chief said volunteer-coordinator availability and details would require follow-up with the sheriff's PIO and confirmed the city funds SESSA (Standing Together to End Sexual Assault) through community services grants for victim-support services.
