The Santa Barbara County Civil Grand Jury needs to have more people from North County communities. In going over grand jury reports from 2004 to 2013, I’ve found there are very few jurors from the North County. There was one from Los Alamos, none from Guadalupe, five from Lompoc, and 12 from Santa Maria.
After filing an application and being interviewed, the idea is that there would be six people from each of the five supervisorial districts. The 30 names are put into a drawing for 19 grand jurors, and the rest would be alternates in case of vacancies. Currently, up to 10 grand jurors from the previous year can opt to hold over for another term, regardless of how effective they were as jurors. That limits the number of new jurors. That many holdovers also influence how the jury operates. Grand jury reports list the members of each grand jury. Since 2004, there were two people who have been on the grand jury five times, and one who has been on the jury six times. Several have been on three or four years.
Holdovers should be limited to two grand jury members. They should be recommended by the foreman based on how effectively they have served. There should be term limits on how many years a person could serve. The grand jury is not supposed to be a career. More people from the central and northern part of the county need to apply for the grand jury for a fair representation of the entire county. Videoconferencing enables all to participate and can limit the number of drives to the Santa Barbara Courthouse. The grand jury should find a more central location for general meetings to encourage more participation.
This article appears in Mar 13-20, 2014.