Q&A: Tanja Heitman
Santa Barbara County’s New Probation Chief Faces Changes
Tanja Heitman was sworn in as Santa Barbara County’s probation chief on December 1 in a courtroom packed with judges and criminal justice workers. She began working at juvenile hall 27 years ago. Now she’s in charge of 350 sworn and unsworn officers handling more than 4,000 cases at any given time — offenders of all ages who have been convicted of all levels of crimes. Heitman is also overseeing the $1.5 million remodel of the juvenile hall on Hollister Avenue. The probation department underwent a jolt last year when her predecessor, Lupe Rabago, resigned under a cloud, the details of which have not yet been released by the Santa Barbara Superior Court.
Heitman is well respected by those who work in criminal justice. Retired judge George Eskin said he has been impressed by her “positive, no-nonsense, practical approach to solving problems by developing creative collaborative efforts with public and private partners.”
In 1989, Heitman moved to Santa Barbara County from Texas with her husband, who worked as a dog handler at Vandenberg Air Force Base. In Texas she had worked at a children’s psychiatric hospital, but Santa Barbara County didn’t have a similar facility. She eventually landed a job as a juvenile-institutions officer at a 24-hour locked facility. She could not help but wonder what she was getting herself into. But in all her years in the Probation Department, Heitman says she has never been bored. And now work is definitely not slowing down.
