Students, particularly students of color, have long complained of being on the receiving end of discrimination, bias, racial profiling and harassment at the hands of local law enforcement; including but not limited to the UC Police Department, the Isla Vista Foot Patrol, the Santa Barbara Police Department and the Santa Barbara County Sheriffs Department. There is a documented history of confrontations between students and the police going back to the burning of the Isla Vista Bank of America in 1970 to the present.

Below is a growing timeline of events documenting the history of the local police and incidences of police misconduct abuse at UCSB and Isla Vista.

The Isla Vista Foot Patrol [I.V.F.P] was established as the main policing force in the town.  Initially, the Foot Patrol program was made possible by a grant from the California Council on Criminal Justice, the state agency in charge of disbursing funds from te federal Anti-Crime and Safe Streets Act of 1968.  The foot patrol was designed as a solution to the specific problems Isla Vista was experiencing at the time; mainly civil disturbances.  But the hiring of military policemen who were discharged early from duty in Vietnam [in return for joining law enforcement] was a major factor in the violent relationship between police and the community of Isla Vista.

The civil disturbances, known as “Isla Vista III” were the culmination of a series of events occurring in Isla Vista and on the UCSB campus.   Police abuse ranged from reports of students who were beaten in solitary confinement, held incommunicado for 40 hours, etc.  Click here to read a brief chronology of police abuse and misconduct that occurred between June 6-12, 1970. This report was compiled by the Faculty-Clergy Observer Program.

Beginning in 1972, the Isla Vista Foot Patrol reported at least once a month to public meetings of the Isla Vista Community Council [IVCC], relating crime statistics for that period and discussing any event or policing policy within legal limits.  With the phase out of IVCC in 1987, this regular reporting to the community ceased to exist. 

The Isla Vista Community Council invented an award called “The Turkey of the Month” in order to call attention to one Foot Patrol officer who most people thought spent too much time harassing Isla Vista residence.  This prestigious award was given to UCSB Officer Al Phillips for having made so many marijuana arrests.

Formal complaints were filed against members of the Isla Vista Foot Patrol by the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity after several alcohol-induced off-duty police officers allegedly fired bottle rockets and threw firecrackers at the fraternity’s house on Cordova Road.

A citizens committee called “Red Alert” was initiated in Isla Vista.  This committee was responding to increased sexual abuse of women during Isla Vista’s Halloween celebrations and lack of a response from the Isla Vista Foot Patrol.

Two officers arrived at the Villa del Sur Apartments in response to a noise complaint.  Luz Virgen and three other Chicano UCSB students living at the residence say the police used excessive force, leaving bruises on students, and racial slurs at them.  El Congreso filed a suit against officers of the IVFP and the SB County Sheriff’s Department alleging police brutality and racial discrimination.

May 28, 1988  

Police shown beating an Isla Vista resident during Memorial Day weekend on Del Playa Drive.  Five officers were temporarily suspended as a result of complants and some Isla Vista residents received cash awards from the County.

Third year UC Santa Barbara student Brig Tratar stated that in an incident in front of the Foot Patrol office, he had been forced to lay face down in the street while another officer intentionally kicked him in the ribs. 

The Isla Vista Free Press releases publication highlighting the issue of deteriorating police and community relations in Isla Vista.

The leadership of the Isla Vista Foot Patrol [UCSB Police Chief John MacPherson, Sheriff's Patrol Division Captain Ed Pecino, and former heads of the Foot Patrol Sgt. James Drinkwater  and Sgt. Fred Olguin] sat down with about sixty residents , the press, and a couple of administrators from UC Santa Barbara, for a two hour meeting, to talk about the deterioration of police and community relations.

Responding to a request for assistance from the Acaconda Theater, Night Club nine SB police officers arrived [some in civilian clothes]  used excessive force aggressively dispersing the Black student who were in attendance.  There were anywhere between 34 officers to 15 Sherifs’ vehicles, 2 K9 units, and a UC police vehicle at the venue.  10-15 students are maced, K9 dogs were brought out to disperse the crowd, and police used racialized and inflammatory phrases such as, “NIGGER BITCH” and “Act like cattle and get the FUCK out of here”.  7 students filed official report of citizen complaints, all stating that police instigated the fight with there excessive force and violent/racist language.    

350 students attended a BSU meeting at Brioda Hall to express outrage at the IV police department for their racist and physically aggressive attack on Black students at the Acanconda Theaters “After Hours” dance.  BSU rep-at-large Brian Macon and 100 Black Men’s Group Rayshaun Grimes presented a "Statement of Facts" about the incident.  

A month after the incident, charges of racial bias and calls for reform of local police were made at an on-campus forum that drew 50 students, UCSB police, and community members. Panelists included two local civil rights attorneys, campus Chief of Police John MacPherson, A.S. Legislative Council member Aaron Jones, and another student.

S.C.O.R.E., Student Lobby, B.S.U. organize in response to police harassment and abuse in Isla Vista and begin efforts to police the police. 

During the 2004-2005 UCSB academic school year, Associated Students Student Lobby launched a “Fall Defensive” campaign, going door-to-door to every residence in Isla Vista in response to repeated reports of abuse of power exerted by the Isla Vista Foot Patrol and the UCPD.  This campaign was also in response to the IVFP “Fall Offensive” campaign targeting I.V. residents on the narrow police enforcement of alcohol laws and alcohol related issues, unreasonably fining students and handing out high priced citations.  Furthermore, Student Lobby responded to numerous accounts of police overstepping their authority, detaining, arresting, and mishandling students for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Thursday night, two days before commencement ceremonies at UCSB, 25-30 African American female UCSB students [most of whom were celebrating their forthcoming graduation outside Cooney’s Bar] were beaten with batons, maced, man-handled, and arrested by the Santa Barbara Police Department without cause of provocation. 

At Santa Barbara City Hall several UCSB students — a majority of them black — publicly accused the Santa Barbara Police Department of brutality during a late-night arrest on June 15, 2006.  A dozen witnesses gave their accounts of the scene outside Cooney’s Bar, relaying teary and outraged stories of unwarranted pepper spraying, excessive use of batons, and a woman being “dragged by her hair across the street with her breast hanging out.” While the council was prevented by state law to take any action on the ordeal, several board members looked visibly shaken by the testimony. After the meeting, a de facto spokesperson for the students — biology major Ashleigh Rucker — alluded to the future of the issue. “Contrary to what was reported, there was no riot,” she said. “We were attacked. … The people who did this to us must know that we will not be silent. We will be heard and we are coming.” [from Street Fight SBPD Accused of Police Brutality by Ethan Stewart]

Police misconduct and brutality are common occurrences.  Click here to learn about your rights in different scenarios involving police.  Click here to watch an informative 45 minute video “BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters”.