Halloween 2014 Police Update at IV Community Network Meeting Thursday, October 9th, 2014

Lieutenant Brad McVay and Sergeant Richard Brittingham

Today, Lieutenant Brad McVay from the County of Santa Barbara Office of the Sheriff gave a presentation to the IV Community Network regarding the police strategy for this year's Halloween parties in Isla Vista. I have organized and summarized this information here, including information that was learned during the questions and answers segment. We also got status related to UCSB, some from Lieutenant McVay, but some later from the Office of Student Life and Associated Students.

In addition to the Goleta police department, IV's Foot Patrol, and the UC police department, the California Highway Patrol (who will be placing "warning signs" along the highway) will have active involvement, and there is a contract with the county for officers. More than 300 officers will be present, A "tactical alert" has also been placed, in case backup is needed from surrounding counties, such as San Luis Obispo.

Within Isla Vista, UC has "stepped up" and will be bringing in a number of officers: there will be 100+ officers in the area, 59 dedicated to Isla Vista, and the rest on campus, which are divided as separate zones under separate "area commanders". Isla Vista itself will be divided into two zones (above and below Trigo road) with Goleta serving as a fourth zone. (Goleta's grant for "saturation patrols", however, has expired, so those will not be present this year.)

Road Closures

Traffic in the lower areas of Isla Vista, between Del Playa and Trigo Road, will blocked during the weekend, first from 4pm on Friday until 3 or 4 in the morning on Saturday and then starting again at 4pm on Saturday. They also will be closing the entire area of Isla Vista (from El Colegio down) to "large vehicles" (a category that includes busses and trailers). They had discussed a general road closure for all of Isla Vista, but for "legal reasons" they were unable to do so, however "large vehicles create an automatic safety hazard" that allows them to stop the car.

(One of the goals listed for this action is to limit the flow of kegs and other large-scale import of alcohol into the area during the weekend, though I may have misunderstood this point as it came up in passing. I believe this is an interaction with the Alcohol and Beverage Control Agents that will be in the area stopping "illegal transportation of alcohol": the law on "use contrary to law" might allow them to stop someone with a keg trying to walk into Isla Vista.)

Isla Vista Parking

During this time, no parking will be allowed on Del Playa, and all cars will need to be removed. The same will be true of the North/South roads El Embarcadero, Camino Pescadero, and Camino Del Sur (this did not come up during the meeting, but I stopped at the IVFP office to get more detailed information). One of the reasons cited for this is that cars in that area are often damaged, and Lieutenant McVay told stories of years where people were using the cars themselves "as sidewalks" due to the very large number of people on the street.

Of particular note, the parking restrictions on Del Playa and the general road closures below Trigo will not have any exemptions even for residents. Lieutenant McVay wanted to be very clear about this, as there is a good amount of confusion on these policies. The policies on resident-only parking areas will also be quite strict (requiring some kind of proof of residency, with exceptions only from UCSB for faculty and staff), so employees who will need to be working in the area but live downtown will not have options available.

Goleta Parking

One of the primary goals is to make it difficult, if not impossible, for non-residents to park in the area: the goal is to be "inhospitable" to people outside of the area. In the past some large lots, such as the Camino Real Marketplace, have been locked down, but their new goal is to also restrict parking in much of Goleta, locking down the area North of El Colegio through to Hollister and as far West as Cannon Green. Residents will receive flyers and phone calls soon, and will have the option of getting two (or more if presenting need) parking passes per household.

From the October 7th Goleta City Council meeting, I have determined that the Parking restrictions in this area of Goleta will begin at 12pm on Friday October 31st until 6am on Sunday, November 2nd. As required by the Vehicle Code, restrictions will be posted 72 hours in advance. Staff will be available during the October 16th neighborhood safety meeting (6-7pm at the Goleta City Council Chambers) to answer any questions residents still have.

Map of resident-only restricted parking area in Goleta Map data provided by Google

According to the Goleta City Countil, UCSB's parking restrictions will remain the same as they have in previous years; this is despite murmurs that UCSB might shut down the 217. UCSB Transportation and Parking Services has an article detailing these restrictions. Students will be able to park on campus using standard student-only parking permits, but it is important to note that these must be ordered in advance (parking permits from the kiosks and pay stations will not be valid).

Storke Ranch (to the East of the restricted area of Goleta along Phelps Road) will also have parking restrictions, but as a private community they are handling this matter internally. (Originally, Goleta intended to entirely restrict parking over the weekend and require even residents to park in a controlled area of Girsh Park and Camino Real, but this was voted down on October 7th.)

Costumes and Weapons

Another thing they wanted to clarify this year is their policies on weaponry: anything that is a weapon, could be used as a weapon, or looks like a weapon, will not be allowed past Trigo. This explicitly includes costume accessories, and Lieutenant McVay detailed examples including staffs and fake swords. He stressed that this was not primarily due to concerns that the owners were intending to hurt people, but that someone else might take the item from them and hurt others.

UCSB Events

Lieutenant McVay made it known explicitly that they do not want this to be, to be considered, or otherwise thought of as a "sanctioned event". In fact, at this point, they "want this to end", and would prefer if Halloween was instead how it used to be back when he was here in the 70s: the event that used to be fun now "just isn't safe". The goal of all outreach is thereby to keep the event limited to local students and residents.

To this end, UCSB will be running events on campus with the goal of drawing people out of the area, including a concert on campus that they believe will draw 4000 people to the events center. The UC has also been running advertisements telling people at other nearby colleges to stay away, pointing out that with the increased enforcement the event "isn't worth it" and that they should go elsewhere. On campus, the message has been "keep it local, keep it safe", with a full page ad in the Nexus today, and more planned next week.

advertisement being circulated by UCSB to students

Policy Enforcement

Finally, there was information on policy enforcement. The county has been having a lot of discussions about what things can be considered "criminal". The "noise ordinance" is an administrative infraction, which can only be punished by a small fine. Technically, no "crime" occurs due to violations of the noise ordinance. This makes it ineffective as an enforcement mechanism during such a large-scale event as Halloween. The noise ordinance also only applies after midnight on Friday and Saturday, the two key days for Halloween this year.

However, in doing this, the county scoured all of the laws they had on the books, and found another option available to them: a permit requirement for any event that has the "potential" of gathering more than 500 people. They believe that a stereo outside a house has such a potential, so they are classifying these as unauthorized and unpermitted events. The property owners will be contacted, and people at such events will be told to leave.

Another consideration provided was that a person with drums in the middle of the street has the potential of gathering a clog of "2000 people", which becomes a hazard: their "goal is to keep things moving". (It was also stated that, effectively, this is the festival ordinance, but a specific way they are able to bring it to enforcement.) (And before anyone asks, as someone did at this meeting: the police have stated there will be no way to obtain a legal permit.)

Arrests and Holds

Someone asked why people sleeping in cars aren't arrested and removed. It was stated they did not want to do that as if someone is doing that they are probably sufficiently intoxicated that they should not be driving, and they did not want to cause an environment where people felt encouraged to drive while drunk instead of sleeping for a while until they are sober enough to be safe.

This led to an explanation that they aren't allowed to hold someone without arresting them, bringing them to the station, and filing the appropriate paperwork. They are able to leave someone with a friend or family member, but if someone is a danger to themselves (or others) there is nothing they can do between that and a full arrest, so they have to carefully balance the tradeoffs (at which point some complex scenarios involving a lack of clarity, when everyone is drunk, who is an aggressor and who is a friend were used to show how this can be legitimately hard).

County Update

In attendance at this meeting was 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr, who provided some context. This event costs the county an additional $300k in funds every year. (Deltopia was another $100k.) The county also takes on extra liability insurance (which I believe was not counted in these numbers), and this does not take into account the costs to the state (such as in the form of the highway patrol).

For anyone interested in attending future meetings of the Isla Vista Community Network, the next meeting will be held on November 13th at 11:45am, presumably in the IV Clinic Building, 970 Embarcadero del Mar. Already on the IVCN agenda is the mid-year report from THRIVE Isla Vista.

If anyone has questions, I can try to get them answered (whether I already know the answer, know who would know the answer, need to call one of the appropriate offices or departments, or need to bring it up at a future meeting); over the weekend (and some on Friday), I will be paying attention to /r/ucsantabarbara on reddit, where a thread on this article has been posted. We also have a page on Facebook.