Crime in Eastern Ventura County Continues to Drop

Continuing a downward trend, the rate of reported major felonies in eastern Ventura County, including Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark, dropped to a 10-year low during 1985, statistics from the county Sheriff’s Department show.

And, in accordance with the county’s report, the Simi Valley Police Department on Thursday posted another drop in that city’s reported major crime rate for 1985, also marking a 10-year low.

The release of 1985 crime figures came in separate announcements from both departments this week. Law-enforcement officials credited aggressive county prosecutors and conservative judges for taking a hard line against offenders.

“That all puts out a message saying Ventura County isn’t where you want to be caught committing a crime,” said Simi Valley Police Lt. Rick TerBorch.

However, Simi Valley and other eastern Ventura County communities are part of a nationwide trend toward generally decreasing crime rates in the past few years.

Although no one is certain of the underlying reasons for the drop, some sociologists attribute it in part to the end of the postwar baby boom and a diminishing younger population. Teen-agers and young adults are the groups most likely to commit crimes, statistics show.

Major crimes, as defined by the FBI and used in the two reports, include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, arson and auto theft.

The cities of Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark and Ojai contract with the Sheriff’s Department for law-enforcement services. Sheriff’s deputies also patrol unincorporated areas of the county. About 253,000 people live in areas under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s Department.

In those areas, 6,711 serious crimes were reported last year, according to Larry Kalsbeek, an assistant sheriff who oversees the department’s crime analysis division.

Major Crime Rate Fell

The major crime rate fell from 28.5 per thousand people in 1984 to 26.5 in 1985, a 7% drop. In 1975, the serious crime rate stood at 41.0 per thousand people.

Among serious felonies, there were 402 crimes of violence and 6,309 property crimes.

Kalsbeek said a spread in neighborhood watch programs as well as increased cooperation among investigators, prosecutors and judges in Ventura County produced the lower crime figures.

“That equates to jails that are crowded but a crime rate that’s down,” he said.

The sheriff’s official also contended that, despite a near doubling in population in eastern Ventura County in the past decade, much of the expansion is “real quality growth,” that has not introduced crime to the area.

2,771 Major Crimes

In Simi Valley, 2,771 major crimes were reported in 1985, TerBorch said. Of those, violent offenses accounted for 248 cases and property crimes for 2,523 cases.

The major crime rate in the city, the population of which is estimated at 89,000, fell by 8.3%, from 34.0 per thousand in 1984 to 31.1 per thousand people in 1985. In 1975, by contrast, the serious crime rate stood much higher, at 52.7 per thousand people.

TerBorch said a reorganization of the 85-officer department, completed in 1985, more clearly divided responsibilities between investigators and patrol officers, improving the agency’s ability to solve crimes. He also pointed to a more than doubling in narcotics investigations by Simi Valley officers as a deterrent to crime.