More than 300 Lompoc residents participated in a recent survey to help city officials weigh future budget priorities.
Results were collected between Jan. 10 and Feb. 10, and members of the Lompoc City Council discussed them during a special budget workshop on March 16.
One of the survey questions included a list of potential areas of improvement, and respondents were asked to rank those areas from most to least important for the city to consider while drafting the 2023-25 biennial budget cycle—set to be finalized before the end of June.
The majority of participants ranked “public safety and protection” as their top pick, including Lompoc resident Patricia Elszy—who was the sole speaker during public comment at the March 16 budget workshop.
Elszy introduced herself as the grandmother of late Lompoc resident Krys Ruiz, who was fatally shot on March 28, 2021, during an altercation with two police officers.
“This month will be two years since this horrible nightmare befell our family,” Elszy said. “The officers were not equipped with body cameras on that tragic evening.”
Elszy described body cameras as “vitally important for second-by-second accountability and clarity,” and urged members of the Lompoc City Council to approve a budget that would fund body cameras for all police officers in the city.
Councilmember Dirk Starbuck was the first to speak after public comment and said that body cameras for the Lompoc Police Department should be prioritized in the 2023-25 budget.
“It’s time to pull the plug and buy what we need to make it work,” Starbuck said.
Mayor Jenelle Osborne said that the body camera initiative is “probably No. 1 for me” when it comes to projects she wants to see in the new budget cycle when it’s brought back to the Lompoc City Council for final approval.
“It’s time, we’re past due on that. We have asked our community to be very, very patient, and they have, and we appreciate that,” said Osborne, who added that part of the delay was due to the Lompoc Police Department’s radio equipment requiring upgrades, otherwise “it would be almost impossible to buy the right body cams.”
Lompoc Police Chief Kevin Martin said that the department will propose a five-year financial commitment for the city to consider to fund the body cameras and additional funding to hire at least one new staff member to oversee and archive the video recordings collected.
City Manager Dean Albro added that the funding proposals Martin mentioned will be brought back to council in time to consider before the 2023-25 budget is finalized.
Councilmember Jeremy Ball said he doesn’t believe there has been any “shift in our thinking” toward body cameras for police officers among members of the Lompoc City Council.
“We’ve all been 5-0 on the body cams for two years,” Ball said. “That needs to happen. I can’t wait to see it happen, and I’m grateful that we have a chief that’s willing to make sure that we’ve got a good fit for that, and it’s not just throwing money at something that’s out of date soon.”
This article appears in Mar 23-30, 2023.