MOORPARK : Metrolink Security Measures Considered

Moorpark officials said Wednesday that they are considering implementing security measures at the city’s Metrolink commuter rail station after a graffiti attack this week on vehicles parked in the station lot.

“I was appalled. It had a real effect on me as soon as I heard it,” Mayor Paul Lawrason said of the attack Monday in which 10 vehicles were spray-painted silver and black.

Lawrason said that he spoke to three of the riders whose vehicles were vandalized and that all were extremely upset. Any ongoing pattern of vandalism “could seriously affect ridership,” Lawrason said.

Five Moorpark youths have been arrested in connection with the vandalism and other gang graffiti at nearby Flory School, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Marty Rouse.

The five were booked on suspicion of felony vandalism because the damage caused amounted to more than $5,000, Rouse said. They were also charged with suspicion of making terrorist threats because they allegedly threatened to kill a sheriff’s deputy in the graffiti; and suspicion of burglary because they allegedly stole the paint from a local hardware store. All were being held at Ventura County Juvenile Hall, Rouse said.

Metrolink spokesman Peter Hidalgo said the graffiti attack is the first instance of vandalism that he had heard of at any of the 12 Metrolink stations. Hidalgo said that individual host cities are completely responsible for the operation and security of the stations.

“When a city comes on line as a Metrolink station, that station is completely owned and operated by the local jurisdiction,” Hidalgo said. “With any park-and-ride lot there are always concerns (about vandalism) and that’s why each city has its own program to enforce their own station.”

Lawrason said the City Council as early as next month will discuss bolstering security at the station. Possible alternatives could range from simply asking sheriff’s deputies already patrolling the city to keep a closer eye on the station to hiring a private security guard to watch over parked cars, he said.

“We’ve got to evaluate the security situation at the station,” Lawrason said.

Councilman John Wozniak also said a review was in order, but felt that the city could find some effective means of security without hiring a full-time guard.

“I would hate to react that way right off the top, with a security guard, because it can be very, very expensive,” said Wozniak, who supports installing higher fencing around the lot and boosting sheriff’s patrols.