On July 1, my service as 2024-25 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury Foreperson ended, our jury was discharged, and a new panel of 19 jurors was sworn in.
Last year’s jury issued 12 reports on investigations with significant implications for our community. Three of our reports addressed public health concerns:
Is the county prepared for the next big epidemic ?
Have vaccination levels dropped so much that disease spread is a local worry?
Are sidewalk food vendors making customers ill with unsafe food prep?
Three more of our reports addressed separate cases in which jail-related deaths occurred. In all three cases, proper safety procedures were not followed. Our reports concluded that these ongoing deficiencies, which have been previously documented, contributed to fatal outcomes. To be clear, these are mistakes that cost lives.