Sheriff Announces New Public Information Officer

The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department officially announced the appointment of a new spokesperson and media contact: Sergeant Alex Tipolt, formerly a supervisor of the department’s North County Gang Team. Tipolt replaces Sergeant Erik Raney, whose name should be familiar to regular Independent readers and who has served as Sheriff’s Department spokesperson for nearly three years. In a statement much more personal than those that preceded it, Raney wrote the following:

I began my stint as PIO entertaining the worldwide media during the Michael Jackson Trial in 2005 and the excitement has not stopped since. Announcing the capture of Jesse James Hollywood and informing the public about the tragic events at the Goleta Postal Distribution Center Shootings are just a few of the memories I will carry with me. I am proud to have served as the Department’s Spokesman for former Sheriff Jim Anderson as well as Sheriff Bill Brown and thank them both for the opportunities. I would like to also thank all of the media I have worked with over the years. Without you the public would not be so well informed about the work that the men and women at the Sheriff’s Department perform every day.

Raney will now serve the county as the patrol sergeant of the Isla Vista Foot Patrol.