POLICE SERVICES

222 E. Cook Street
Santa Maria, CA 93454		 Historical List of Chiefs

The Santa Maria Police Department strives to protect and serve all those who live, work and/or visit Santa Maria. This is accomplished by working in cooperation with the community, promoting safety and enforcing the law. Professional police services include maintaining civil order, preventive patrol, investigations, traffic control and enforcement, criminalistics, crime prevention, drug enforcement, and abuse prevention. The department houses the public safety dispatch center for police and fire, which receives all emergency 9-1-1 and non-emergency calls for services and ensures that appropriate resources are dispatched on a timely basis.

Annual Awards Luncheon is May 23

Questions about gangs? View our videos for answers

Santa Maria Police Department Logo
Photo of Ralph Martin, Chief of Police RALPH MARTIN
Chief of Police

City Phone: (805) 925-0951 x272
City Fax: (805) 922-0877
222 East Cook Street
E-Mail

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES:

Responsible for directing the personnel and equipment of the department to perform the following duties: preserving law and order, investigating complaints, arresting offenders, recovering stolen property, and regulating traffic.

Mission Statement
In partnership with the community, we will provide impartial, ethical, and professional law enforcement services. We will take a leadership role in forming collaborative community efforts to find long-term solutions for the reduction of crime through prevention. We will strive to maintain the trust, understanding, and confidence of our residents, while working to improve the quality of life.

THESE ARE OUR VALUES

Our mission will be accomplished while remaining dedicated to the following principles:

RESPECT: We will honor the individual worth and contributions of each member of our organization.

INTEGRITY: We will not compromise our moral and ethical principles.

ACCOUNTABILITY: We will accept responsibility for our decisions and actions.

HONESTY: We will be forthright and truthful.

FAIRNESS: We will treat everyone in an equitable and dignified manner.

EMPATHY: We will be sensitive to the needs and feelings of others and to the cultural diversity of our community.

LAW ENFORCEMENT CODE OF ETHICS

As A Law Enforcement Officer, my fundamental duty is to serve mankind; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the Constitutional rights of all men to liberty, equality and justice.

I will keep my private life unsullied as an example to all; maintain courageous calm in the face of danger, scorn, or ridicule; develop self-restrain; and be constantly mindful of the welfare of others. Honest in thought and deed in both my personal and official life, I will be exemplary in obeying the laws of the land and the regulations of my department. Whatever I see or hear of a confidential nature or that is confided to me in my official capacity will be kept ever secret unless revelation is necessary in the performance of my duty.

I will never act officiously or permit personal feelings, prejudices, animosities or friendships to influence my decisions. With no compromise for crime and with relentless prosecution of criminals, I will enforce the law courteously and appropriately without fear or favor, malice or ill will, never employing unnecessary force or violence and never accepting gratuities.

I recognize the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith, and I accept it as a public trust to be held so long as I am true to the ethics of the police service. I will constantly strive to achieve these objectives and ideals, dedicating myself before God to my chosen profession...law enforcement.

2012-13 Goals/Objectives

  1. Continue to remove unlicensed and hazardous drivers from the City’s streets, and strive to reduce the number of repeat offenders, by utilizing State Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) grant funding to conduct DUI/Drivers License checkpoints and saturation patrols.
  2. Facilitate community based policing and outreach efforts by restoring the Department’s Beat Coordinator program during 2012-13. The specialty assignment of two Beat Coordinators will be contingent upon restoring funding of two Corporal positions. These two positions have been temporarily unfunded for the last 11 months as a cost saving measure during 2011-12.
  3. Work toward more harmonious internal relations within the department and the Police Officers Association by initiating a teambuilding exercise aimed at fostering more open dialog and communication amongst department personnel.
  4. Work in conjunction with other departments to systematically plan for and install required structural and technological improvements as part of the building retrofit of the future Police headquarters, to include developing a coordinated move-in plan and an orderly internal transition of personnel and equipment, while at the same time providing seamless service to the public.
  5. Increase educational programs and presentations targeting local high school students about the dangers of driving distractions such as texting and/or drinking.
  6. In an effort to curb youth violence and gang affiliation, create an educational video program for school presentations and to show on the government access television channel, featuring interviews with convicted gang members from the community who explain the consequences of their life choices and gang-related violence.
  7. Continue to work with the Fire Department and Information Technology Division to identify, select and implement a compatible replacement for the Computer Aided Dispatch/Law Records Management System, including field based reporting and an automated vehicle locator system.
  8. Develop and implement a community online crime reporting system for certain non-emergency crimes within the City.
  9. Implement a software-based tracking system to prioritize criminal cases with workable leads, improving overall investigative efficiency and improving customer service.
  10. Explore the feasibility and benefits of offering crime lab services to local neighboring agencies.