Isla Vista’s party scene hit a new low in 2014 when a crowd of youthful rioters — mostly out-of-towners — hurled projectiles at law enforcement, eliciting a tear-gas-filled response. For students, law enforcement, and UCSB, things could have not looked worse.
Fast forward only 364 days, and the boisterous, beach-themed block party had a subtle but markedly different feel. Scantily clad students still meandered up and down Del Playa Drive in the sun and music, yet out-of-towners were fewer and further between, unable to find a party to crash. Fewer houses blared music past the festival ordinance–mandated 6 p.m. noise curfew. And groups of UCSB students in distinctive shirts roamed the community offering their peers warnings of the impending curfew, handing out water, and calling in medical services when needed.
Those student volunteers were the first iteration of “UCIV,” a UCSB group that emerged from talks between local law enforcement and representatives of the university’s Associated Students government for a softer, student-led approach to patrolling the community. While UCIV has no enforcement power and is not formally affiliated with the constabulary, they’re a “go-between between law enforcement and the residents out here,” says I.V. Foot Patrol Lieutenant Rob Plastino.