The Old Spanish Days Fiesta saw a more than 33% increase in felony and misdemeanor arrests over the five-day event this year compared to last year.
Between Aug. 5-9, the Santa Barbara Police department arrested 199 people. Of those arrests, 153 were for alleged misdemeanors while 43 were on felony charges.
Compared to last year 149 people were arrested and of those 118 were misdemeanors while 31 were felonies.
A total of 94 people were booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail throughout the five-day event.
Police officers were on foot and rode bikes downtown during Fiesta, making “proactive” bar checks, wrote Commander Nathan Beltran.
Santa Barbara police also issued 1,282 parking citations, a nearly 33% increase from 966 parking citations last year.
Most citations were issued on the Westside of State Street, with other citations sprinkled on the Eastside and few near Goleta, according to a map of parking citations provided by the police department.
The department did not operate any DUI checkpoints during the Fiesta weekend, wrote Chief Kelly Gordon in an email.
However, there were 12 DUI arrests this year. Seven DUI arrests were made last year.
