Our Department

The mission of the Santa Maria Police Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) is to preserve life during critical incidents by resolving conflict without the use of force. This FBI-trained team initiates a constructive verbal dialogue with suicidal persons, barricaded criminal suspects, and people in hostage situations. The team uses special crisis intervention skills to resolve critical incidents effectively and safely. CNT members are cross-trained in all of the assignments associated with a deployment. The team works in conjunction with the SMPD SWAT team and responds to most pre-planned operations. Team members also assist patrol during critical incidents.

The City of Santa Maria is divided into three large districts in which a beat coordinator is assigned. Their primary responsibility is to assist community members and businesses with a wide array of ongoing community issues, including homelessness, ABC licensing assessments, safety, and tobacco retail license inspections, neighborhood issues, and community meetings and events. Beat coordinators’ primary goal is to resolve ongoing issues and reduce the number of quality of life calls for service. They also regularly work with city code enforcement and park rangers to address community problems.

Our School Resource Officers service our elementary, junior high, and high schools. The School Resource Officers are typically the first contact for school administrators and are heavily relied upon to mitigate most issues involving school students. They regularly teach the DARE Program, are active in any community events involving youth and, most importantly, serve as positive role models for the kids in our community.

The mission of the Crisis Intervention Team, which includes a trained officer and a mental health clinician from Behavioral Wellness, is to provide specialized support to community members of Santa Maria experiencing a mental health crisis. Interventions may include assessment, referral to a mental health facility, de-escalation of situations or individuals, linkage of individuals to needed services and, when appropriate, follow-up to ensure continued care and prevention. The team can also provide a safe, compassionate, and effective response to individuals with mental illness who encounter law enforcement to minimize the instances of hospitalizations and or incarcerations.

The Mobile Field Force team’s mission is to maintain the public peace and protect the public’s First Amendment rights at planned and unplanned mass gatherings, protests, and demonstrations within the city of Santa Maria. The team may also support outside law enforcement agencies within the county of Santa Barbara or our region.

The Traffic Unit is committed to the safety of the motoring, pedestrian, and bicycling public. The unit’s mission is to enforce the California Vehicle Code and educate the public, in an effort to reduce collisions and prevent injuries and fatalities. This year, the Traffic Unit partnered with the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) on grant-funded details directed at fulfilling the mission of enforcement and education.

The Honor Guard represents the Santa Maria Police Department at a wide range of ceremonial events. The Honor Guard presents/posts the Colors at opening ceremonies and, at times, performs traditional funeral honors such as the folding of the United States flag and a 21-gun salute.

The canine team works alongside patrol officers to respond to calls for service with a focus on intervening during in-progress crimes. These highly trained teams are capable of searching large areas to locate hidden suspects, conduct article searches and search for missing persons.

The Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) unit is used in various assignments throughout the department. The UAS program greatly enhances the capabilities of the units within our department. Searching for fleeing suspects and missing persons, producing aerial photographs for major traffic collision investigations, or conducting perimeter surveillance and interior building searches during SWAT operations are just some of the assignments that the UAS unit performs on a regular basis.