Neighborhood Welcomes Ventura Police Storefront

Two months after hundreds of Ventura Avenue residents crowded a meeting hall to demand more protection and city services, Ventura police have opened a storefront substation, a three-room office in the thick of the crime-riddled neighborhood.

The Thursday morning dedication of the Westside Storefront was marked with music and dance by neighborhood children and congratulations from local officials, who challenged residents to maintain the groundswell of community support that helped open the substation.

“If there are some hooligans or criminals out there who don’t like this, well too bad,” Chief Richard F. Thomas told the audience, assembled outside the storefront at 110 N. Olive St.

“Either clean up your act or get out,” Thomas said. “That’s my message to you today.”

The Avenue-area office joins the Montalvo storefront as the second satellite station of the Ventura Police Department to open this year.

It is a neighborhood that police say is a hot spot of law-enforcement activity.

“The Avenue area is a known area for criminal activity and gang activity,” police spokesman Jack Richards said. “It has far more calls for service than any other reporting district in the city.”

The newest substation will be open from noon to 9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, but officials hope to operate it seven days a week once training is completed by volunteers, who will staff the office’s front desk.

“The significance of both of these storefronts is that they are being opened without any public dollars,” said police Capt. Randy Adams, who served as master of ceremonies Thursday.

“This would never have happened without strong community partnership.”

More than a dozen people signed a volunteer contact sheet resting atop the storefront counter--names the Police Department will call on in coming weeks to increase the hours the station can serve the community.

The office will offer residents more than immediate police response to law enforcement calls. Officials say it will operate as a clearinghouse for resolving almost any problem residents might experience with city government.

“We’re teachers, moderators and facilitators,” said senior Officer Jim Cubitt, who has patrolled the Avenue area for 16 years.

“It is their resources store and their town hall,” he said. “Here at this store, if we don’t have the answers, we’ll sit down and find them the answers.”

The station will be staffed by two full-time police officers, as well as two officials from the Fire Department’s code enforcement team, who will track down and enforce building code and planning violations.

“The key word is accountability,” said Dan Emry, who will respond to code enforcement violations from the Avenue station. “Now you’ve got people assigned to an area to clear those problems up.”

Front-counter volunteers will answer phones, process paperwork and try to resolve whatever problems neighborhood residents encounter.

Police officers not stationed at the storefront also will be able to use it for report-writing and other activities they would normally need to complete at the main station.

Organizers of the substation--many of whom stepped up after the boisterous town hall meeting in May--said the substation will give the neighborhood a foothold for community activism.

“You open a storefront and nothing will happen,” said Mike Del Dosso, a 25-year resident who helped establish the satellite office. “It takes the whole community to succeed.

“It’s up to us--the residents of The Avenue--to take advantage of this opportunity,” he said.

But not everyone is convinced the storefront will drive away the gang and drug activity that permeates the area.

“People will know that the police will be here faster,” said Rogelio Botello(CQ, a 17-year-old raised on The Avenue.

“People are still going to do (illegal) things,” he said. “They just may do it faster so they can get away.”

FYI

Volunteers are needed to help staff the Westside Storefront police substation that opened Thursday. The station is now open from noon to 9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, but officials hope to get enough volunteers to open the storefront seven days a week. For information, call 648-8133.