Isla Vista Halloween Enforcement Plan Rolling Out
The normal deployment of about 200 Sheriff’s deputies in Santa Barbara County for the Isla Vista Halloween street party is about to increase significantly with the help of police officers from the University of California.
UC police will add a large support group of officers from UC Santa Barbara and many other UC campuses to help control a crowd estimated to be in the range of 30,000 on past Halloween weekends. There are often hundreds of arrests for mainly alcohol related violations at the unpermitted party that has been taking place for years.
DUI checkpoints, special fencing, parking restrictions, and barricades will be in place to control the crowds coming and going into Isla Vista, but the town, next to UC Santa Barbara will not be closed down or cut off for anyone.
Special portable lighting units will illuminate some of the darker streets, and is also a crowd control technique that often discourages people from gathering. There will also be a massive use of fixed, portable and citizen cameras in place to document activities, especially if a crime occurs.
Students in certain areas have been asked to buy parking permits if they want to have their cars nearby on the UCSB campus, because many streets will be cleared of cars prior to the Halloween event.
Sheriff Bill Brown, is on the IV Safe Committee, led by District Attorney Joyce Dudley, and includes many leaders from UCSB, law enforcement, fire, and the local community.
Brown said, “it is a traditional event,a recurring event and it is an unsanctioned event, which means no one is there to be held accountable as an organizer or for providing for security. What we want to do is to provide for the safety for those who are there. It is something we have always done and will always do.”
Sheriff Brown and his command staff will personally be in the foot patrol force.
The IV Safe Committee has also purchased ads to discourage people from coming to Isla Vista and one says “an arrest or a DUI can jeopardize your dreams and ruin your future. You may be fined or thrown out of school.”
More ads including some reportedly recorded by local celebrities and leaders are expected to roll out in the next few days.
In anticipation of large scale arrests and medical calls, there will be a special triage area set up to handle the flow of mainly young people who will either go to jail or a hospital. Extra AMR ambulance crews will be lined up to transport those who are injured or sick.
