Full Notification

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies with the assistance of agents from the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) hosted free training sessions last week in Isla Vista for ABC licensed businesses and their employees.  More than 50 people from 16 businesses throughout Isla Vista, the City of Goleta and unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara County participated.  

The free training sessions are part of the ABC’s Licensee Education on Alcohol and Drugs (LEAD) program.  Last year, more than 18,000 alcohol industry employees in California received LEAD training.   The program educates businesses on laws involving the sale and service of alcoholic beverages. The specialized training provides the licensee and applicant with practical information on serving alcoholic beverages safely, responsibly and legally as well as how to best prevent illicit drug activity at the licensed establishment.

LEAD started in January of 1991 with a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety and since then more than 200,000 people have received training from the program. ABC has funded LEAD since February of 1995.   

The past two years the Sheriff’s Office has received a $50,000 dollar grant from ABC to help fund LEAD, minor decoy and shoulder tap operations among other efforts.

The Sheriff’s Office is pleased to partner with ABC to support the LEAD program and its mission to create safer communities through educating businesses and employees about the role they play in promoting reasonable alcohol sales and consumption.