In an attempt to curb citations and decrease law enforcement intervention at Isla Vista parties, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department recently announced a program that allows the community’s residents to register their parties with the department.
The new approach, the voluntary Party Registration Program, aims to mitigate “nuisance parties” in Isla Vista, and provide open communication between law enforcement and residents who are throwing a party.
Isla Vista is notorious for its party scene, and parties are held nearly every weekend and sometimes during the week.
Under the Party Registration Program, party hosts can pre-register their parties with the Sheriff’s Department through an online registration form and designate one person to be a sober party monitor.
If the sheriff receives a noise complaint about the party, the sober monitor will be notified with a phone call or text and given 20 minutes to shut down the party before law enforcement arrives.
“This empowers the party host to be a good neighbor and reduces the likelihood of receiving a costly fine,” the department said.
Fines for noise complaint citations typically cost around $150 to $200, Isla Vista Community Resource Deputy Justin Schroeder said.
Residents must abide by a set of guidelines before registering for the program. Applications must be submitted at least 48 hours before a party to guarantee registration, and registrants must be a resident of the property being registered.
A similar party registration program has been successful in San Luis Obispo near the Cal Poly campus, the department said.
The Sheriff’s Department will keep a record of information from registrants who receive a warning call for a noise complaint but do not shut down their party or turn down the music, Schroeder said. In these cases, registrants will receive a citation and be unable to register their parties with the department for nine months.
“Those are the only [registrants] we’ll keep record of because they didn’t go with the program,” Schroeder said. “So we’re not going to allow them to register again until basically the next school year.”
The department will not keep a record of Isla Vista residents who register their parties and abide by the program. These registrants’ information will be “shredded and discarded” at the end of the weekend, according to Schroeder.
Isla Vista is home to many UC Santa Barbara students, and the average age of residents is around 20 years old, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Schroeder said he hopes underage residents won’t be discouraged from registering for the program because the goal of the program isn’t to target specific parties to shut down.
“I don’t know if people underage would be scared to register or not, but I certainly see how it could be a problem for them,” Schroeder said. “But even if their friends are underage and drinking, we’re not going to know that.”
The Sheriff’s Department responds to an average of 20 noise complaints each weekend night in Isla Vista, Schroeder said, and the number increases on certain holiday weekends, the first weeks of UCSB classes, and the weeks leading up to graduation. There can sometimes be four to five complaints about one party.
“These are the parties we’re hoping [party hosts] would voluntarily shut down,” Schroeder said.
Spencer Brandt, a UCSB student and president of the Isla Vista Community Services District, said he is excited to see how the “innovative” program plays out. He is having a party this weekend and said he plans to register with the program.
“I think it has the potential to be a really positive way to foster more cooperative relations between law enforcement and the public,” Brandt told Noozhawk.
Schroeder and the Isla Vista Foot Patrol have been collaborating with the UCSB student body president on the program, and Schroeder said the program is largely aimed at UCSB students living in Isla Vista, although it is open to anyone.
“We’re going to work with the people that register their parties, not against them,” Schroeder said. “I think it’ll be a bit of a trial and error. It’ll take time to build that trust. Once word spreads, I anticipate more usage.”
— Noozhawk contributing writer Maura Fox can be reached at news@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, and connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.