What is the impact of new California laws meant to reduce the number of people in local jails and state prisons? Is it an increase in crime?
If you ask law enforcement, they say yes. If you ask some North Santa Barbara County farmers, they also say yes. And the reason they say yes is correlation: Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic (is it really over?), rural crime has increased significantly in the county. Since 2020, rural crime—thefts, vandalism, etc.—has increased by more than 60 percent, and property damages and loss total more than $2 million.
That’s a lot for an industry that struggles to break even and feeds people. And this county’s farmers are at their wits’ end, watching tractors, ATVS, drip tape, and more disappear and seeing no one prosecuted for the crimes.
“Even if they find they’ve found them, they can’t hold them. They are being released, and consequences are so low they really have no reason to [not] go and find another location and they continue with the thefts,” Hampton Farming Company’s Jim Stollberg said.
But rural crime is nothing new. It’s always been an issue, and it’s not been an issue that’s been seriously addressed in the county. In fact, farmers say they would be happy to just see they’re losses total only $500,000 a year.
The Sheriff’s Office only has one person assigned to rural crime. Could it be because it’s mainly a North County issue? We all know those Santa Barbara-based folks don’t really see much beyond the Santa Ynez Valley line.
According to county 1st District Supervisor Das Williams, the Sheriff’s Office is projected to use about $5 million less than what it received in budget allocations this year.
“The sheriff has, within his authority, the ability to have a rural crime unit and allocate millions of dollars for the people necessary to staff that or any unit he so choose to do,” Williams said.
Is a rural crime unit on the table?
Not exactly. I think rural crime is on the bottom rung of priorities for the Sheriff’s Office. It’s not as sexy as busting “illegal” pot operations, you know? We’ve got to put that money where the politics are!
Undersheriff Craig Bonner said the department is looking at license plate readers and putting out specialized patrols. Looking at? That sounds like the very least the county’s law enforcement agency could do. But really, there’s this task force they’re putting together with the Santa Maria Police Department and the county District Attorney’s Office to “really put a focus on these crimes.” Oh goody. A task force.
It’s kind of sad that the industry that arguably impacts our county the most has basically one Sheriff’s Office deputy assigned to it.
“Obviously rural crime has been in ag for a long time, and we haven’t necessarily asked for help either,” said Lacy Litten from a local farmers group called Facts from Farmers. “But now we really need help.”
Call me crazy, but people shouldn’t have to ask for help when it comes to the crimes committed against them. Farmers shouldn’t have to ask law enforcement for help. It should already be given.
The canary is ready to go on patrol. Really. Send thoughts to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 13-20, 2022.