The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office is proposing a temporary 72-hour ban on amplified music during Deltopia weekend in Isla Vista, citing long-standing public safety concerns and a significant strain on emergency resources.
The amendment would suspend all amplified music audible from public property between 12 a.m. Friday and 12 a.m. Monday during Deltopia weekend. It would apply to residences, businesses, short-term rentals, and private gatherings, and be enforced with citations and fines.
“Deltopia has evolved into a large-scale event that creates significant safety risks, not only for the students and visitors in Isla Vista, but for the surrounding communities of Goleta and Santa Barbara,” said Isla Vista Foot Patrol Lieutenant Joe Schmidt in a Sheriff’s Office press release issued Thursday. “Every year we see medical emergencies, alcohol poisonings, assaults, and a level of crowding that overwhelms our resources.”
A town hall to discuss the proposal will be held on Tuesday, November 12, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Isla Vista Theater. Representatives from the Sheriff’s Office, county staff, and local agencies will be present. Community members — including UCSB students, university leaders, Isla Vista residents, and local business owners — are encouraged to attend and offer input.
“The goal is not to eliminate celebration,” Schmidt added, “but to give the community relief from the block-party atmosphere that repeatedly escalates into dangerous behavior.” As far not not eradicating all festivities, the Sheriff’s Office is currently working with Santa Barbara County Counsel to confirm that language in the amendment will allow a permitted event that’s exempt from the amplified music restrictions in the ordinance — such as the I.V. Community Services District’s Spring Festival.
To many, this may seem stifling; however, the public safety concerns are real. The Sheriff’s Office reported 485 citations, 130 medical calls, and 84 arrests during the 2025 Deltopia weekend. That includes an arrest of a person carrying a loaded firearm. Overtime costs for law enforcement and fire response between 2023 and 2025 totaled $465,607 — not including medical personnel.
Critics of the proposed ban, including UCSB student and External Vice President of Local Affairs EJ Raad, argue that students were not sufficiently consulted. “It’s about our rights to have some form of self-representation where we live,” Raad told The Daily Nexus. “Instituting a whole new set of policing standards on the biggest event of the year, there should be input from us.”
“When you’re in a higher education environment, like a university, you should have an education-first policing philosophy,” Raad added. “They very much have a punitive policing philosophy.”
Lt. Schmidt said the Sheriff’s Office is also exploring safe, sanctioned alternatives in partnership with the community. “We do not need another tragedy to learn that change is needed,” he said. “We’re trying to be proactive and effect change before the next tragedy occurs.”
