County’s Rate of Serious Crime Down 1% : Demography: Area retains its status as second-safest in the West. But officials see troubling trends, such as a steady rise in violence.

Ventura County remained the second-safest urban area in the West in 1992 after a 1% decline in serious crime, according to the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Reports released today.

The county held the top ranking among 13 western states for six straight years, but was displaced by Provo, Utah, in 1991. Provo was first again last year, the FBI reported.

Metropolitan Provo had 42.4 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 1992, compared to 43 in Ventura County.

The county’s rate of serious crime--violence such as rape, robbery and murder along with burglaries and thefts--was one-third lower than California’s and one-fourth below the nationwide norm.

The local crime rate was also far lower than that of any large Southern California county and was 12% below Santa Barbara County’s rate.

But Chief Deputy Sheriff Oscar Fuller noted some troubling trends.

“We’ve got to be careful we don’t get so complacent that we think it won’t happen here,” he said. “The problem with that kind of logic is that we’re a small reflection of the trends elsewhere. If they increase there, they’ll eventually increase here no matter what we do.”

Ventura County has already seen the beginnings of change. Despite last year’s slight drop, crime in the county is up sharply in every category compared to 1989, when the rate reached its lowest level since the early 1970s.

The sum of crimes reported to the FBI was down from 30,235 to 29,844 in 1992, but that 1% drop compares to a 17.3% rise in 1990 and 1991.

Violence has increased steadily.

The number of murders, rapes, robberies and felony assaults jumped 8% countywide last year. And the increases were outside Oxnard--where 83% of new violent crimes occurred in the two previous years.

“We’re going through some sociological changes,” Fuller said. “Crimes against people are rising more quickly than crimes against property. Young males . . . (show) a trend toward more violence. Small groups are assaulting one another more frequently. That’s symptomatic of a willingness to use a firearm.”

In the sheriff’s jurisdiction alone, drive-by shootings by youth gangs tripled to nine in 1992, and gang weapon assaults doubled to 20, Fuller said. While thefts and burglaries were down 5%, reports of violence were up 15%.

That increase in violent crime was centered in Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Moorpark, Ojai and Fillmore, which are among the safest areas in the county.

Still, 1992 was generally a year of moderation. Of the county’s 10 cities, only Fillmore--plagued by a resurgence of gang activity--suffered a crime increase of more than 3.1%.

Most jurisdictions were up or down only slightly.

Moorpark, the county’s richest city, maintained its status as the least burdened by crime. And Oxnard was still the county’s most dangerous community.

Moorpark had 22 crimes per 1,000 residents, and Oxnard had three times as many. One-third of all serious crime occurred in Oxnard and 42% of all violent crime, although the city has just one-fifth of the county’s 700,000 residents.

The Moorpark and Oxnard totals reflect the difference in crime between the new affluent communities of the suburban east county--Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley--and the older cities of the Santa Clara Valley and Oxnard Plain.

The west county’s crime rate was 50 offenses per 1,000 residents, compared to 30 per 1,000 in the east. Both fared well compared to state and national norms.

Of the east county cities, crime was down 0.2% in Thousand Oaks to 31.8 crimes per 1,000 residents and off 4.5% in Moorpark to 22.2 per 1,000. But it was up 3.1% in Simi Valley to 34.5 per 1,000.

In the west county, crime was down 2.9% in Ventura to 57.2 crimes per 1,000 residents, 3.3% in Port Hueneme to 48.2 per 1,000 and 8.1% in Ojai to 38.2 per 1,000. But it climbed 2.4% in Oxnard to 67.3 crimes per 1,000 residents, 3.1% in Santa Paula to 61.3 per 1,000 and 34% in Fillmore to 40.9 per 1,000.

Camarillo, at the county’s geographic center, showed the greatest improvement--a 24% drop to 23 crimes per 1,000 residents, due to the arrests of several serial thieves and burglars from Los Angeles County.

Police say that crossover crooks from Los Angeles and violent youths represent unwelcome trends.

Yet Ventura County’s enviable position among the West’s urban areas prompted Fuller to point to the crime rates in states where thousands of county residents have fled since 1990.

In Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho and Arizona--all principal destinations for local refugees--the lowest crime rates of any city with at least 50,000 residents were Bremerton and Olympia, Wash., each with about 45 crimes per 1,000 residents.

Nationwide, the two lowest urban crime rates were in Johnstown, Pa., and Steubenville, Ohio--both under 20 crimes per 1,000. Highest was metropolitan Miami, with 123 crimes per 1,000.

* MAIN STORY: A1

Crime in 1992

Crimes* per 1,000 Residents

Southern California Ventura County: 43.0 Santa Barbara County: 49.0 Orange County: 56.3 San Diego County: 66.1 Los Angeles County: 74.1 Riverside-San Bernardino: 74.6

State and National United States**: 56.6 California**: 66.8

Metropolitan Areas Nationwide Johnstown, Pa.***: 17.4 Oshkosh, Wis.: 37.7 Charlottesville, Va.: 39.1 Boise, Ida.: 48.2 Eugene, Ore.: 54.3 Colorado Springs, Colo.: 56.4 Minneapolis: 55.9 Honolulu: 61.2 New York-Newark: 62.0 Des Moines, Iowa: 62.3 Las Vegas: 67.5 Seattle: 67.9 Anchorage: 70.2 Phoenix: 74.6 Atlanta: 79.3 Corpus Christi, Tex.: 87.7 Miami****: 123.4 * Murders, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, thefts and auto thefts.

** State and national crime rates are for both rural and urban areas.

*** Lowest urban crime rate in U.S.

**** Highest urban crime rate in U.S.

Source: FBI--Uniform Crime Reports, 1992