Annual Report 2009 - Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department

Civil Bureau
The Civil Bureau consists of
three offices which are located
at the Santa Barbara,
Santa Maria, and Lompoc
Courthouse complexes. The
staff is comprised of both
support and sworn personnel
and is separated into Field
Services and Support Services.
Field services are handled
and overseen by a Sergeant
and three deputies who
are responsible for the actual
service and enforcement of
orders. The support staff is
overseen by a Legal Office
Professional with a staff of
seven who are responsible for
legal paperwork and monetary
transactions.
seized items include anything from bank accounts, boats, growing crops,
homes, horses, livestock, motor vehicles, planes, property, and stock
certificates. Orders were also received to seize property located on
someone’s person such as jewelry and cash.
Since the Civil Bureau is an impartial, disinterested third party, tangible
items are generally seized and held for a given period of time. This allows
for parties to file an appeal with the courts. Once a release is received
from the courts, the property or funds are released to the prevailing
party.
The Civil Bureau serves over 8,000 processes annually. Unfortunately,
the business of the Civil Bureau increases during poor economic times.
This is especially true in the area of evictions. The Civil Bureau conducts
transactions in excess of $3.5 million annually on civil process cases.
The Civil Process section archives
records using the latest Laserfiche product to scan paper reports
and files, saving them in digital format for prompt retrieval.
The Civil Bureau is the only area within the Sheriff’s Office that is an
agent for private litigants. Because the cases are civil in nature, the bureau
cannot utilize criminal investigative tactics such as stakeouts or
computer inquiries (DMV, arrest records, etc.) to serve a process.
By statute, the Civil Bureau provides many services to the public, which
includes serving legal documents and enforcing court orders. Throughout
the years thousands of tangible items of property have been seized. The
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INTEGRITY ~ CARING ~ COURAGE ~ FAIRNESS ~ SERVICE