AnonymousSource: Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to battle alcohol-related crime. The funds will be used to boost enforcement efforts in the Isla Vista and Goleta communities. The goal is to reduce the number of alcoholic beverage sales to minors, illegal solicitations and possession of alcohol, as well as other criminal activities involving alcohol consumption and abuse.
Lt. Juan Camarena who oversees the Isla Vista Foot Patrol said the funding will help provide a pro-active approach to address alcohol-related issues that continue to negatively-impact the Isla Vista community and surrounding areas. He said, “This grant is important to increase protection for our youth by keeping alcohol away from minors and holding businesses accountable who violate the law.”
The grant is one of 51 awarded in California to local law enforcement agencies through ABC’s Alcohol Policing Partnership (APP) program. The grants strengthen local law enforcement efforts by combining the efforts of local police officers and ABC agents. ABC agents have expertise in alcoholic beverage laws and can help communities reduce alcohol-related problems.
ABC Director Jacob Appelsmith said the program is having a positive impact. He said, “We are seeing a difference in the communities where the grant program resources have been invested.”
APP was created in 1995 to strengthen partnerships between ABC and local law enforcement agencies. Since then, more than $20 million dollars have been distributed to local law enforcement to combat alcohol-related crime.
ABC is a Department of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency.
A hundred grand is chump change to the SBSO. These “grants” are taken from other sources and doled out around the state with the main purpose being to support the “grant” making bureaucracy. If local government wants this sort of enforcement it can easily prioritize how to spend local money. The source of these grants should be cut off.