Taking a Byte Out of Crime : Oxnard: A telephone and personal computer acquired with seized drug money has already helped crack a car-burglary case.

Oxnard police have discovered an innovative way to use the common telephone as a tool for preventing and solving perplexing crimes. The new crime-busting tool, which employs a specially programmed personal computer and a long list of telephone numbers, was used last December to solve a rash of burglaries in a west Oxnard neighborhood.

Police had arrested three juveniles who admitted to burglarizing dozens of cars in a neighborhood near Wooley and Victoria roads. The problem was that police had very few burglary reports in that neighborhood.

Using a common personal computer with an automatic telephone-dialing program, employees at the Police Department’s crime analysis office conducted a telephone survey of the neighborhood. The computer called 350 residences in two days and played a recorded message that asked residents to call police if they had been the victim of theft.

The plan worked. Police received 24 calls from residents who said their cars had been burglarized, said David Keith, senior crime analyst. The burglary victims were identified and reunited with their stolen tools and tape decks, and the culprits were put behind bars, Keith said.

It was not the only case in which the microchip has helped police triumph over crime.

Keith said the computer has been used in recent months on other duties. It has helped identify witnesses to a brutal assault, warn banks and stores about a check-forgery ring and ask employees at 24-hour gas stations and mini-markets to be on the lookout for a robbery suspect.

Santa Barbara police have used a similar computer to warn specific businesses and residents about crime trends, Keith said. But, he said, Oxnard is the only city in the country to use this type of computer technology to solve crimes, such as the automobile burglary case.

The computer, known in the Police Department as the crime alert bulletin system, is being used to solve another rash of burglaries in central Oxnard, near Wooley and Ventura roads.

The Police Department bought the $6,000 computer in October with money seized from drug offenders, Keith said. “Some drug dealer who is sitting in jail right now doesn’t know it, but he helped pay for this thing.”

“I think it’s great,” said Marie Carbone, an employee at One Stop Market on Wooley Road. Carbone said she received a call via the computer on Thursday that warned her that someone was trying to cash stolen checks.

The warning was written down and posted in the store for all employees to see, she said.

Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Quinlan, who operates the computer and provides the voice for the recordings, said the computer can provide recordings in English or Spanish. Residents can select the language with the push of a button.

The computer is programmed to hang up on answering machines or when no one is at home and then call back later.

When someone answers, that person is greeted with a terse announcement: “This is the Oxnard Police Department with a very important message for you . . . “

Said Quinlan: “If you tell them right upfront that it’s the Police Department, they’ll tend to stick around and listen.”

Keith said the Police Department has had no complaints about the new system. In fact, he said, some residents have called to request that their phone numbers be placed in the computer. “They want to be called and warned when something is going on,” he said.