2 Local Cities Safest in Nation, FBI Says : Statistics: Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley had the lowest urban crime numbers in ’91. Oxnard posted the county’s highest last year.

Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley were the safest cities of 100,000 or more population in the nation last year, according to figures released by the FBI.

Not only did the two Ventura County cities report less total crime in 1991 than other urban areas in a preliminary FBI crime study, an analysis showed that they also had the lowest crime rates of any large cities reporting.

Thousand Oaks had 3,323 crimes in 1991 contrasted with 3,241 in the previous year. That was a 1991 rate of 32 crimes per 1,000 of population.

Simi Valley was just behind Thousand Oaks with a total of 3,415 crimes contrasted with 3,148 in 1990. A breakdown by The Times showed the Simi Valley crime rate last year to be 34 crimes per 1,000.

For the past four years, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley have been vying with each other for the bragging rights to which city has the safest streets.

“It makes us feel good,” said Lt. Richard Diaz, in charge of patrol services for Thousand Oaks.

“But the street officer doesn’t pay attention to those things,” he said. “They’re out there doing their job.”

Sgt. John Wilcox of the Simi Valley Police Department said the figures can provide a barometer on the effectiveness of a police agency.

“We’re very statistics-conscious,” he said. “That’s a measure of our work sometimes.”

Raw crime figures are reported to the FBI in Washington by 195 cities with populations in excess of 100,000. About 185 cities reported in time for the agency’s preliminary report, which was distributed nationally by the FBI this week.

Crimes included in the FBI statistics are murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, vehicle theft and arson.

The raw figures showed that while Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley again had low crime totals, Oxnard, the county’s most populous city, once more had the highest crime totals in the county. The city reported 9,808 crimes in 1991, contrasted with 8,464 the previous year. The 1991 figure is about 69 crimes per 1,000 residents.

Oxnard’s longtime police chief, Robert Owens, said the city’s crime rate is in part a function of what he called “the baby boomlet” of the 1970s, and because there is more detailed reporting in such sensitive crime categories as domestic violence and rape.

Still, said Owens, who will retire in June, crime in Oxnard “is under control. It’s not a runaway condition. It’s certainly a lot better than a decade ago.”

Thousand Oaks, which has a population of about 104,000, has a law enforcement contract with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. Simi Valley, with a population of just over 100,000, and Oxnard, which has a population of about 142,000, have their own police departments.

Although Ventura County embraces the two cities with the nation’s lowest crime rates, overall the county experienced a 13% jump in crime in 1991.

Even Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley showed jumps in total crime last year--6% and 8%, respectively.

“I predicted we might not hold our position as the safest county in the west,” Ventura County Sheriff John V. Gillespie said.

For the past 11 years, Ventura County has enjoyed the lowest crime rate among California’s 58 counties; for the past half-dozen years, it has been the safest county in the western United States, according to FBI figures.

But escalating drug trafficking and gang activity might topple Ventura County from its No. 1 perch, Gillespie said.

Even so, he said, Ventura County’s residents “are safe on the streets and safe in their homes.”

Much of the reason for this, Gillespie said, rests with tight cooperation among the public and police agencies in the county.

“Law enforcement in this county are still the good guys,” he said. “They are still the community heroes.”

In addition to the figures for Ventura County, the FBI statistics showed that the nation’s third-lowest crime rate--36 crimes per 1,000 residents--was recorded by Santa Clarita in Los Angeles County.

Other low crime rates in California included Sunnyvale, 40 crimes per 1,000 residents; Fremont, 41 crimes per 1,000; Huntington Beach, 44 crimes per 1,000, and Irvine, 45 crimes per 1,000.

San Jose had the lowest crime rate among the state’s largest cities, 55 crimes per 1,000 residents, contrasted with 87 crimes per 1,000 for San Diego.

Oakland had the highest crime rate in the state among large cities with 126 reported offenses per 1,000 residents, followed by Fresno, 124 crimes per 1,000 residents; Sacramento, 104 crimes per 1,000; Los Angeles, 101 crimes per 1,000; San Francisco, 96 crimes per 1,000, and Long Beach, 94 crimes per 1,000.

County Crime Rates in 1991

For cities with populations over 100,000:

Crimes per Population 1,000 people Thousand Oaks 104,352 32.4 Simi Valley 100,217 34.4 Oxnard 142,216 69.3