THOUSAND OAKS : Projects Face Review for Impact on Police

Bowing to concern about rising crime in one of the nation’s safest cities, Thousand Oaks City Council members have agreed to evaluate every development proposal to determine whether the project would strain police resources.

But in a feisty half-hour debate, several council members this week rejected the notion that they should hire more sheriff’s deputies simply because the city’s population continues to grow.

Recently emerging as the third-safest city of 100,000 or more in annual FBI crime statistics, Thousand Oaks has been “operating very successfully” with the current ratio of one sworn deputy per 1,250 people, Councilman Alex Fiore said.

State guidelines recommend one officer for every 1,000 residents and Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski has pushed to boost Sheriff’s Department staffing to that level.

“We’ve fallen behind in an area that’s essential to maintaining a safe and healthy growing community,” Zukowski said.

Fiore, however, derided the state standard as “some magical formula” that did not necessarily apply to Thousand Oaks.

“It depends where those 1,000 people are,” he said. “Certainly, in Vatican City, I wouldn’t think you’d need one officer per 1,000 people, and perhaps in Downtown L.A., you might need two officers per 1,000.”

Although not consulted during the council debate, Sheriff’s Cmdr. Kathy Kemp said later that officers assigned to Thousand Oaks “can handle most things.”

Kemp did note that detectives investigating violent crime are overburdened, and said her patrol squad could always use reinforcements.

“I don’t think there’s any police chief anywhere who would tell you they don’t need more officers,” Kemp said. “But we understand that there are a lot of needs in a lot of areas. I can’t come in and say we need 10 more officers. That’s just not reasonable.”