OJAI : Violent Crime Rate Falls by Two-Thirds

Ojai’s violent crime rate has plunged by two-thirds over the past year, county sheriff’s Lt. Larry Weimer said.

Weimer, the chief law enforcement officer for the city of 7,946 for three years, credits the drop to “a lot of hard work on the part of patrol deputies” and to the community’s cooperation.

“As long as we have that cooperation, we will continue to have the kind of success we do,” Weimer said.

At the same time, “we have to be real careful with statistics in a small town like this because it could get blown way out by one mini-crime wave.”

While homicide figures remained the same in 1988 and 1989--no murders were reported--two rapes occurred during each of those years, according to Sheriff’s Department analysts.

The number of aggravated assaults in Ojai decreased by 69% from 32 in 1988 to 10 last year.

Commercial burglaries increased by 31% last year, with 38 reported, nine more than in 1988. But residential burglaries were down by 21% from 29 in 1988 to 23 last year.

Grand theft was up 10% with 41 thefts reported in 1989, four more than the year before. Petty theft dropped by 28% from 170 in 1988 to 122 in 1989.

Auto thefts increased 60% last year when 24 vehicles were reported stolen, nine more than the year before.

Ojai Mayor Joe DeVito said: “We’re not satisfied to keep it low. Our goal next year is to keep pushing to get it even lower.”