Police Put Foot Down on Crime : Oxnard: Serious offenses have decreased since storefront station was opened in La Colonia, county’s toughest neighborhood.

Walking his midday beat in Oxnard’s La Colonia neighborhood, Officer Rafael Nieves on Tuesday pointed out the areas of ongoing drug sales: a vacant lot, a zigzag alleyway and a boarded-up white and blue building.

Behind the building inside a metal fence, Nieves and another officer stopped two men who turned on their heels at the sight of the officers. One of them was arrested on suspicion of taking drugs after the officers noticed fresh needle marks on his arm.

In the past nine months, the foot patrols and drug arrests have become commonplace since Oxnard police opened a storefront station in Ventura County’s toughest neighborhood.

Drug dealers who once openly plied their trade have retreated from the street corners and overall crime has begun to diminish.

“If I can keep them in the shadows, I’m happy,” Nieves said. “If they’re in the shadows, they’re not out in public and they’re not making as much money as they would be.”

After initial hesitation, longtime residents have begun to embrace their neighborhood police station, saying they feel safer with four officers based in the area.

Rosalinda Flores Michel, owner of El Taquito restaurant, said officers walking the beat offer reassurance. “Just by seeing them, you feel like somebody cares,” Michel said.

“It used to be blatant at Cooper and Hayes,” said Wade Richardson, 42, who was visiting his father in the neighborhood. “Now, there’s not so much traffic. It’s a little bit safer, but it depends where you’re at.”

Crime statistics for La Colonia reveal that serious offenses have decreased, but as Tuesday’s arrest indicates, crime has not disappeared.

In the nine months since the storefront station opened, 146 major crimes have been reported in all of La Colonia, a decrease of 27% from 199 such crimes reported for the same nine months a year earlier. Homicides, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, auto burglaries, auto theft and arson are all counted as major crimes.

The difference is even more dramatic in the blocks immediately surrounding the storefront station on Grant Street. In the immediate area, 17 major crimes have been reported since the station opened, compared to 39 for the same period a year earlier.

The statistics are only one measure of success. Over the past months, the community has begun to warm to the officers.

“When we first opened, not too many people would want to talk to us,” Officer Robert Vizcarra said. On several occasions, rocks and bottles were hurled at their patrol cars, he said.

But now, he said, residents often drop by to report crimes, knowing that they can talk directly with an officer who speaks Spanish.

“A lot of people just come to say, ‘Hey. Thanks for being here, it’s about time,’ ” he said.

Carlos Aguilera, president of La Colonia Neighborhood Council, said the vast majority of longtime residents embraced the police station, relieved that the city is finally providing them with the protection they deserve.

“I think the most important role is the idea of the officers walking the beat, meeting the neighbors, talking with the neighbors,” Aguilera said. “It has left a very strong impression on the community.”

Aguilera said he has heard some complaints from teen-agers and their parents about the way the youths are treated by some of the officers.

Nieves acknowledged that the officers have encountered some resistance, especially from a few individuals they have arrested. In the first three months he was stationed in La Colonia, Nieves was the subject of three complaints--after a decade without one.

Oxnard Police Chief Harold Hurtt said all complaints have been investigated and the department found “the officers actions were in line with what was required.”

A supporter of community-based policing, Hurtt decided to open the storefront ahead of schedule after an arsonist firebombed the restaurant next door that had offered the police the rent-free space.

“I think it’s met all my expectations,” Hurtt said. “The community has responded well as far as accepting us.”

In fact, Hurtt said the idea has proved so popular that other quarters of the city are clamoring for their own substations.

“I get a request from people everywhere I go,” he said. The success of La Colonia substation has prompted the city to plan to open a second one in South Oxnard late this month, Hurtt said.