Serious Crimes in Oxnard Fall to 20-Year Low During 1993 : Law enforcement: Authorities credit an increase in citizens’ patrols and community-based policing efforts.

After increasing dramatically over the previous three years, the number of serious crimes reported in Oxnard plunged in 1993 to a 20-year low, authorities said Monday.

Police and city officials credit the drop to a boom in citizens’ patrols and a variety of community-based policing efforts, including two storefront stations, a weekly cable TV show and graffiti cleanups.

And while crime statistics can swing wildly from year to year, police say last year’s crime-rate decline is significant because both the violent and property crime categories are down.

“I think what really happened is that we saw a significant increase in community involvement,” said Oxnard Police Chief Harold Hurtt. “The partnership I always talk about, I think it really began to jell here in Oxnard.”

In 1993, Oxnard reported a total of 58 crimes per 1,000 residents, the lowest such figure since at least 1973, said David Keith, a Police Department crime analyst. In 1992, there were 69.3 crimes per 1,000 people and the 1991 rate was 68.3.

Mayor Manuel Lopez said he hopes the 1993 figures will chip away at the city’s reputation as the gang, drug and murder capital of the county. The reputation has long been unfair, he said, because the city’s diverse population has more social and economic problems than other Ventura County cities.

“If you’re comparing apples to apples, I think we have a pretty good record. And I think it’s getting even better,” he said.

Still, officials say the city’s gang and drug problems show no signs of retreating. Countywide crime figures for 1993 are not yet available to show whether Oxnard will retain its status as the most crime-ridden city in Ventura County.

Police officials said the lower crime figures held steady throughout the year, although they were much more apparent in areas where residents have organized street patrols. In those neighborhoods, crime dropped an average of 55%.

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Combined homicides, rapes, robberies and felony assaults fell 11%. Property crime--burglaries, thefts, arsons and auto thefts--decreased 14% overall, despite slight jumps in auto theft and arson.

Keith said the drop in burglaries--from 2,134 in 1992 to 1,615 in 1993--is the clearest sign that citizens’ patrols are deterring certain types of crime.

“I don’t think our neighborhood patrols are going to bring down the murder rate in the city,” he said. “But they are going to have an impact on things like residential burglary, auto burglary and auto theft.”

Last year, the number of citizens’ patrols in Oxnard blossomed from one on the city’s northern border to a network of 14 spread throughout the community.

Howard Fox, an Oxnard podiatrist, helped found a patrol in the Sea-Aire neighborhood last February after he grew tired of seeing gang members instead of residents on the streets.

“Now we see people walking their dogs or taking their children out for walks in the evening,” he said. “More people are in the park. The walls are cleaner and we don’t get as much graffiti on our buildings and on our block walls.”

And while many cities remain wary of encouraging citizens to take to the streets armed with walkie-talkies and high-powered flashlights, Oxnard’s City Council recently called for 10 more areas to form patrol groups.

“If you’re part of the solution it just works better,” Mayor Lopez said.

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In addition to patrols, police officials say two storefront stations--a year-old facility in La Colonia and a newer one in the Southwinds area--have helped clean up some of the most dangerous corners of town.

As in La Colonia, the Southwinds neighborhood saw a big drop in crime in the three months following the storefront’s opening and the establishment of walking patrols.

Overall crime in Southwinds fell 49% in the last three months of 1993. There were one-third the number of auto burglaries and half the number of car thefts.

OXNARD CRIME STATISTICS 1991-1993

1991 1992 1993 Homicide 7 17 19 Rape 73 75 55 Robbery 518 569 464 Assault 1,051 965 908 Burglary 2,120 2,134 1,615 Theft 5,025 5,145 4,425 Auto Theft 981 1,109 1,148 Arson 51 50 56 Totals 9,826 10,064 8,690

Source: Oxnard Police Department