During the Board of Supervisors’ meeting on January 27, the 2nd District’s Laura Capps spoke of the safety and trust issues raised by immigration raids, both national and local. And, as part to the Indy’s reporting on the subject, Santa Barbara City Police Chief Kelly Gordon and Santa Barbara County Sheriff Brown sent statements. All three texts run here with minor edits for style.
Santa Barbara City Police Chief Kelly Gordon
The recent events in Minneapolis have certainly sparked concerns and conversations across the country, and Santa Barbara is no exception. While every community experiences these moments differently, we are focused on listening, engaging, and maintaining trust with the people we serve. Even when incidents occur elsewhere, the reverberations are felt locally in public expectations, officer morale, and the daily interactions between police and the community.
With respect to the recent shootings, it’s essential that there be a full, thorough, and transparent investigation to determine exactly what happened. Clear facts matter for accountability, for public confidence, and for the integrity of the process. Allowing investigations to run their course is critical to ensuring credible outcomes.
We fully support the peaceful exercise of First Amendment rights, including lawful assembly and free speech, and have worked diligently to provide safe spaces in Santa Barbara to exercise these rights. These rights are fundamental to a healthy democracy. At the same time, violence in any form is unacceptable. It places people at risk, undermines legitimate concerns, and makes constructive dialogue far more difficult. We remain committed to de-escalation, professionalism, and working collaboratively to keep our city safe.
Our priority locally remains ensuring public safety while fostering transparency and accountability. We’ve encouraged open dialogue within the department and with community members to address concerns and reaffirm our commitment to fair and respectful policing. No one should ever be targeted based on skin color, and protecting everyone’s civil rights is essential. We work hard every day to strengthen our relationship with the community, and the actions we are seeing in Minneapolis risk further eroding public trust nationwide.
I am proud of the work the men and women of S.B. Police Deoartment are doing during this challenging period. They continue to serve with professionalism and compassion, often under difficult circumstances. These challenges extend beyond the profession for many of our officers and professional staff, as a significant number grew up in and remain deeply connected to our immigrant community. The broader climate affects them not only as public servants, but as neighbors, family members, and community members themselves.
I’m also grateful that our immigrant community continues to engage with us despite the broader climate. We do not enforce immigration law, and our focus remains on local public safety. The trust members of the community place in us is something we take seriously and deeply appreciate.
Nationally, police leaders are emphasizing many of these same principles. The International Association of Chiefs of Police has recently called for thoughtful, measured leadership, constructive engagement, and clear standards that promote accountability while supporting the men and women serving on the front lines. They have also stressed the importance of dialogue that builds public trust rather than deepens division, which is a message that strongly resonates with us at SBPD.
It’s a challenging time everywhere, but we see this as an opportunity to strengthen relationships, reaffirm our values, and continue improving how we serve the community.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown
From whatever vantage points we may have viewed them, we should all be able to agree that the recent DHS-related shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis were both gut-wrenching tragedies.
The investigations into the circumstances of each must be allowed to be impartially and objectively conducted without interference, premature judgement or speculative commentary. After those investigations are finalized, they need to be thoughtfully reviewed and acted upon if changes in policy, training, tactics and/or behavior could prevent similar occurrences in the future.
In the meantime, inaccurate and provocative statements from leaders on both sides of the aisle do nothing but fan the flames of emotion, elicit kneejerk responses, deepen polarization, and make the goal of achieving comprehensive, bipartisan-supported immigration reform even more elusive.
It’s sad that we’ve come to a point where many are treating those with opposing views as enemies, when in fact we are neighbors, colleagues, friends and members of the same community. Those in positions of power and influence need to understand that some moments in life call for measured, or even unuttered, thoughts.
Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps
I’d like to speak about the escalating federal immigration enforcement.
I respect the Chair’s request for us to not unnecessarily wade into national issues, but what is happening with ICE is an issue affecting the people we represent on a daily basis. ICE is here on any given day, in our neighborhoods on our streets, causing disruption and in some cases, violence.
Over 350 people are now gone — most without due process, leaving behind loved ones to suffer in trauma.
Safety is our number one job and I am worried about our safety. Especially for our immigrant community. But for all of us too.
When these raids happen, the agents are masked with guns, innocent bystanders are outraged. It’s alarming. They can’t believe what they are seeing. So, so like Alex Pretti, they take out their phones.
What’s to stop a federal agent from turning on them?
When the big raid happened in Carpinteria, and 200 people gathered to protest, ICE used smoke bombs and flash bangs on them. It got out of hand. We all know, it could have been worse.
Our local law enforcement has years of experience and training. They receive De-escalation training. They are members of the community. I’m proud to be their colleague and support their courageous work.
ICE has more than doubled their ranks in less than a year, from 10,000 agents to 22,000. They do not receive the kind of exceptional training that our local law enforcement receives. By some accounts, they are barely trained.
Like tens of thousands of community members I have attended protests recently including a beautiful vigil last night at Stearns Wharf in solidarity with the people of Minnesota. They have been entirely peaceful. I brought my son last night, not worried about our safety —because this is Santa Barbara. And this is America. Will that change? What do we do if federal agents arrive?
It’s been up to nonprofits to be leading know-your-rights and de-escalation sessions. Every protest has been entirely peaceful thanks to the work of the community. Volunteers.
Our District Attorney has spoken out to keep the peace and keep the temperature down. So has the S.B. City Chief of Police.
I’ve asked our sheriff directly and I’m publicly asking him now — how can he and his team be a part of keeping our community safer against federal agents? What more can be done?
It’s an open ended question and I am looking for any kind of answer. But we do need an answer.
