Bill Brown
| Candidate Name | Bill Brown (*incumbent) |
| Position Sought | Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner |
| Website / Social Media | www.BillBrownforSheriff.com Facebook: BillBrownSantaBarbara Twitter: @SBSheriffBrown |
| Why are you running for office? | These are some of the most difficult and uncertain times faced by law enforcement in our nation's history. They call for a seasoned chief executive to lead the more than 800 men and women in the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. Serving as your sheriff is my calling and something I look forward to every day when I go to work. That’s why I am pleased to be running for re-election as your sheriff. I was first elected to office in 2006, and it’s been my honor to have been re-elected three times and to have served until now as your sheriff. I have provided proven, strong, effective and stable leadership as the county’s chief law enforcement officer. With your help I will continue to do just that. I ask for your support and your vote on June 7, 2022. I am supported for re-election by over 1,000 people from across the political spectrum and from all walks of life. Visit www.BillBrownforSheriff.com to see the names of over 1,000 people who have endorsed Bill Brown for Re-Election. |
| What makes you qualified for the job? | My leadership as Sheriff of Santa Barbara County has been strong, clear, consistent, sensible, unwavering, transparent and stable. I have led the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office through some of the most difficult times in its history. Despite unprecedented staffing cuts (80 General Fund positions lost since 2007), I have guided the agency in a proactive manner focused on keeping front-line deputies on the streets and custody deputies working in the jail. I also streamlined important support and prevention functions, and instituted many innovative and evidenced-based practices. Some examples of my past leadership include: - Led the Sheriff’s Office response to a variety of critical incidents and disasters, including several mass murders, eighteen major wildland fires, the Montecito mudslides, the disastrous Conception dive boat fire and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. - Established the Co-Response Program for handling incidents involving mentally ill people in crisis. The program pairs law enforcement officers with mental health clinicians. They work collaboratively to get mentally-ill people services and keep them out of jail. - Established a Jail Based Competency Treatment (J.B.C.T.) program that delivers mental health treatment to offenders who are incompetent to stand trial. - Instituted a Merit-based Promotion System. - Delivered on my campaign promise to build a new Northern Branch Jail. I assembled a Blue Ribbon Commission on Jail Overcrowding that published a report of its findings and recommendations. I lobbied for increased state funding for local jail facilities, and obtained $80 million in state funding towards the cost of the Northern Branch Jail. - Reinstituted the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance and Education) program in schools. - Expanded the Law Enforcement Explorer Program. - Oversaw the consolidation of the Sheriff and Fire aviation units into a blended and cost-effective Sheriff-Fire Air Support Unit led by the Sheriff’s Office. - Established Day Reporting Centers in both North and South County, where criminal offenders released from State prison obtain services and assistance to help them successfully reintegrate into the community. - Expanded the Citizen Academy Program to both North and South Counties. - Developed a quarterly public version of the “Sheriff’s Roundup,” a video news magazine depicting some of the more significant activities and accomplishments of the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office. The show airs regularly on local cable TV and YouTube. |
| What are your two main priorities if you win? | 1. Continue to work hard for you to keep our county safe by making sure our top priority is having properly trained and equipped deputy sheriffs on our streets and custody deputies working in our jails. 2. Bring community leaders and organizations together to address the Opioid Crisis, a nationwide epidemic that is destroying far too many lives: more than 106,000 nationwide and 133 in our county alone in 2021. This scourge upon our community endangers people from all walks of life and from across the socio-economic spectrum. |
| How will you collaborate with other governments? | Collaboration is the key to the successful resolution of complex and long-standing societal problems. That's because no single government entity possesses sufficient human or other resources to resolve these problems. What it takes is a strong commitment to work together to achieve a common goal. I have consistently proven my ability to do with other departments, governments and private sector partnerships. Our collaborative and regional approaches to mental health (Co-Response Program, Medication Assisted Treatment Program, Jail Based Competency Treatment Program), public safety specialized support (Sheriff-Fire Air Support Unit, Regional Bomb Squad) and the opioid epidemic (Project Opioid) have made Santa Barbara County a more informed, cooperative, compassionate and safer community. |
| What are the next two issues that are most important to you? | I have the additional priorities of: - continuing to work collaboratively to keep mentally ill people out of the criminal justice system, and - continuing and expanding efforts to rehabilitate offenders and prepare them for a successful return to the community after their release from jail. |
