Sheriff’s Department citizen’s academy begins

 

The thirty or so local men and women who signed up for the 2008 Citizens Academy classes offered by the sheriff’s department settled in for a long evening Sept. 10 to begin the seven-week course that will give them an insider’s view of Bill Brown’s empire.

Brown, of course, is the sheriff of Santa Barbara County. And he is all too aware of how little understood is the job that he and his deputies perform daily.

 

The first meeting of the citizen’s academy was held at the Solvang Veteran’s Memorial Hall and the academy will run for six more sessions, one per week. Citizens will be introduced to the mission of the department, will have the opportunity to interact with deputies and detectives, will tour department facilities including the jail and dispatch center, will have the opportunity to fire real and simulated firearms, and test driving skills in simulated emergency situations.

Brown provided information on his history as a law enforcement officer and his rise in rank and responsibility during his 31 years as a sworn officer and deputy. Brown began his career as a police officer in the Bay Area city of Pacifica. Desiring a bit more action, he transferred to the Los Angeles-area city of Inglewood, where he stayed for 12 years until being named Chief of Police for the city of Moscow, Idaho. In Moscow he not only served as the Chief of Police but also oversaw the police operations at the University of Idaho, which was located in the city until 1995.

 

After three years in Idaho, Brown and his wife of 27 years, Donna, decided that the lure of California was too strong, and he applied for and was selected as only the eighth person to be the Chief of Police for Lompoc since the city incorporated in 1899. Brown remained in the city serving as chief for 11 years until being elected Sheriff of Santa Barbara County in 2006.

Brown recited a history of the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s department by giving an historical perspective of the office of sheriff from it’s origins in England. Brown explained that in England the counties are known as shires.

The King would appoint a reeve as his representative in the county to be sure that taxes were collected and the serfs or laborers of the kingdom would work. In the language of the day, the officer was known as the shire-reeve, later shortened to sheriff.

The custom of the sheriff was brought across the Atlantic with the colonization of the new world, and the sheriff became the only elected law enforcement officer serving the counties in modern America.

California became a state in 1850, and the first sheriff of the county of Santa Barbara, which then encompassed the current county plus most of what is now Ventura County, was Jose Rodriguez. At that time the department consisted of only one sheriff and his jailer. Sheriff Rodriguez’ term in office was cut short in his first year when he was killed by a shotgun blast from an outlaw he was trying to pull off a horse.

 

In those early days of statehood, Santa Barbara County was a particularly lawless area. Highwaymen staged robberies of travelers along El Camino Real, the road connecting the early California Missions along the coast between San Diego and San Francisco. The stretch from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo was considered the most dangerous in all of California.

One outlaw was Jack Powers. A onetime soldier originally from Ireland, Powers came to California during the Mexican War, landing on West Beach in Santa Barbara in 1847 as part of a U.S. Army occupation force. Powers established himself on the central coast as a robber, and at one time made his fortress with his band of outlaws near the San Roque area of Santa Barbara. The Sheriff of Santa Barbara then was W.W. Twist.

Twist was to serve an order upon Powers that was issued by the California Supreme Court, but he and his posse were attacked by Powers’ band of outlaws at Carrillo and Anacapa Streets. Twist was stabbed in the back but survived. His posse of vigilantes was met by a hail of gunfire.

 

Powers was finally routed from his stronghold in Santa Barbara and later fled to Los Angeles and thence to Mexico, where he was killed by his lover and her boyfriend. His body was fed to a pen of hungry pigs.

Since 1850, twenty-two men have served as sheriff of Santa Barbara County.

Today Sheriff Brown leads a department of 308 sworn deputies, 192 custody deputies in charge of the jails, and 203 civilian employees. The department has an annual budget of nearly $94 million and covers a county of 2,800 square miles with 95 miles of coastline, and is 115 miles end to end. The department has personnel trained in specialties including special operations, aviation, scuba, hostage negotiation, and forensics.

 

After Sheriff Brown’s presentation, two representatives of the department’s Forensic Division, Detective Tim Sutcliff and civilian worker Nancy Torres, gave a class on the myriad scientific investigation techniques and devices that the sheriff uses in gathering evidence and solving crimes.

Of the 30 or so citizens attending the North County Citizens Academy, four wives of deputies, including Sheriff Brown’s wife Donna, were attending. Occupations of those attending ranged from a high school student to a retired librarian, a hotel worker, an employee of a pest control company, and also some civilian workers of the department.