The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (known as Cal/OSHA) has now conducted two inspections of the Santa Barbara Police Department’s Figueroa Street police station, the most recent inspection taking place this Tuesday. Cal/OSHA spokesperson Erika Monterroza confirmed that the state safety agency is investigating the police station, but she declined further elaboration explaining that to do so might “corrupt” the results. She did say that the investigation was initiated on February 26 and that by law, her agency has six months to complete the job.
Sergeant Mike McGrew, long the face of the Police Officers Association (POA), said he instigated the investigation after ambient tests for potential carcinogens that had been promised in December by Police Chief Cam Sanchez were not conducted. According to McGrew, the chief pledged at a leadership meeting to have the tests performed. When he checked with department brass to determine if the tests had been done in February, he was informed they had not. He then called Cal/OSHA and notified his superiors within the department that he had done so. The tests were conducted not long after, said assistant chief Frank Mannix. Those tests revealed, he said, no apparent health risks posed by the building.
Mannix and McGrew said they were animated by concerns that the police station might be a “sick building.” A number of department employees — or recent retirees — have either died of cancer in recent years or gotten sick with the disease. Mannix cited two recent deaths and about five nonfatal cancer incidents. Further fueling such concerns was the extensive work refurbishing the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system that began earlier this year. “It’s been like being in a dental office on steroids,” said Mannix. That work has proved disruptive to departmental employees, and the dust, sawdust, and particulate matter — from drywall and cottage-cheese ceiling materials — have exacerbated employee fears about unsafe working conditions.