Policy Text
\n\n--- Page 1 ---\n\nSanta Barbara County Sheriff's Office
Santa Barbara SO Policy Manual
PREFACE
Organizations are only as good as the personnel who staff them. The employees and volunteers of
the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department are our most valuable resources. To be effective
and accomplish our mission, we must provide them with guidance, direction, and leadership in
the form of policies and procedures.
This Policy Manual is a living document that is subject to constant change. The manual was
prepared with technical and professional guidance. New laws, court decisions, County of Santa
Barbara ordinances, new methodologies, and other factors dictate the need for a continual review
of these policies, initiating revisions where necessary and appropriate.
No set of policies and procedures, no matter how complete, can hope to address all the situations
that may be encountered. There will be situations that occur that must be left to the good judgment
and discretion of the persons involved. This judgment and discretion must be employed with sound
reason.
It is the responsibility and duty of every employee to become thoroughly familiar with the contents
of this manual. The information contained in the manual should be followed as closely as
circumstances permit.
Upon distribution or revision of this manual, all other existing orders, policies, and regulations that
are in conflict are revoked.
Bill Brown, Sheriff-Coroner
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2024/04/08, All Rights Reserved. Preface - 1
Published with permission by Santa Barbara County Sheriff's
Office\n\n--- Page 2 ---\n\nSanta Barbara County Sheriff's Office
Santa Barbara SO Policy Manual
MISSION STATEMENT
We, the members of your Sheriff's Department, are responsible for enforcing the laws, upholding
the Constitutions, and providing custody and court services. We are committed to enhancing the
quality of life through effective partnerships, protecting persons and property, while serving as role
models to our community.
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2024/04/08, All Rights Reserved. MISSION STATEMENT - 2
Published with permission by Santa Barbara County Sheriff's
Office\n\n--- Page 3 ---\n\nSanta Barbara County Sheriff's Office
Santa Barbara SO Policy Manual
Table of Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
MISSION STATEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 1 - Law Enforcement Role and Authority. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
100 - Law Enforcement Authority. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
102 - Sheriff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
104 - Oath of Office. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
106 - Policy Manual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
107 - Law Enforcement Code of Ethics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Chapter 2 - Organization and Administration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
200 - Organizational Structure and Responsibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
206 - Emergency Management Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
208 - Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
212 - Electronic Mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
214 - Administrative Communications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
216 - Staffing Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
218 - License to Carry a Firearm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
220 - Retired Deputy CCW Endorsements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
221 - Sheriff's Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Chapter 3 - General Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
300 - Use of Force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
302 - Deadly Force Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
306 - Handcuffing and Restraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
308 - Control Devices and Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
309 - Conducted Energy Device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
310 - Officer-Involved Shootings and Deaths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
312 - Firearms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
313 - Senior and Disability Victimization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
314 - Vehicle Pursuits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
316 - Deputy Response to Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
318 - Canines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
320 - Domestic Violence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
322 - Search and Seizure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
324 - Temporary Custody of Juveniles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
328 - Discriminatory Harassment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
330 - Child Abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
332 - Missing Persons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
334 - Public Alerts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
336 - Victim and Witness Assistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
338 - Hate Crimes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
340 - Standards of Conduct. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2024/04/08, All Rights Reserved. Table of Contents - 3
Published with permission by Santa Barbara County Sheriff's
Office\n\n--- Page 4 ---\n\nSanta Barbara County Sheriff's Office
Santa Barbara SO Policy Manual
342 - Information Technology Use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
344 - Report Preparation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
345 - Online Reporting System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
346 - Media Relations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
348 - Subpoenas and Court Appearances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
350 - Reserve Deputies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
352 - Outside Agency Assistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
356 - Registered Offender Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
358 - Major Incident Notification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
360 - Death Investigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
362 - Identity Theft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
364 - Private Persons Arrests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
368 - Limited English Proficiency Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
370 - Communications with Persons with Disabilities. . . . . . . . . . . . 265
372 - Mandatory Employer Notification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
374 - Biological Samples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
375 - Risk Assessment Unit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
380 - Child and Dependent Adult Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
382 - Service Animals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
384 - Volunteer Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
386 - Off-Duty Law Enforcement Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
389 - Chaplains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
390 - Gun Violence Restraining Orders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
391 - Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation. . . . . . . . . . 305
Chapter 4 - Patrol Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
400 - Patrol Function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
402 - Bias-Based Policing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
404 - Briefing Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
406 - Crime and Disaster Scene Integrity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
408 - SET/CNT Units. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
409 - Underwater Search and Recovery Unit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
410 - Ride-Along Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
412 - Hazardous Material Response. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
414 - Hostage and Barricade Incidents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
416 - Response to Bomb Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
418 - Mental Illness Commitments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
420 - Cite and Release Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
422 - Foreign Diplomatic and Consular Representatives. . . . . . . . . . . 352
424 - Ra