Santa Barbara City Council Takes First Look at Police Oversight Proposal

“During this process, did you put yourself at risk?” That was the unexpected question Santa Barbara City Councilmember Alejandra Gutierrez asked Gabe Escobedo Friday afternoon. For the past 13 months, Escobedo has chaired the city’s ad hoc commission charged with recommending the structure for a police oversight committee that would be appropriate for Santa Barbara.

“Growing up, I didn’t have a positive relationship with police,” Escobedo answered. His father spent much of his life behind bars, and the idea of meeting in a room with Santa Barbara Police Lieutenant Shawn Hill — or any uniformed cop armed with a gun — Escobedo acknowledged, generated “a lot of anxiety.” His voice shook a little as he recounted all this. 

But in the past 13 months, he and Hill have met many times to hash out details of civilian oversight, and now he no longer feels anxious to be with Lt. Hill. The moral for Escobedo is that the creation of a civilian oversight board can help bridge the gap of distrust some community members feel about the police.