Statistics Misleading on Ojai Crime Rate
The figures in the latest Sheriff’s Department report rank Ojai fifth-highest in crime among the county’s 10 cities. According to the charts and graphs, Ojai’s violent crime rate is actually greater than that of Simi Valley and Camarillo combined.
The report was probably intended to demonstrate how crime had been reduced on a county level. But, because the statistics were offered in a crime-per-thousand-residents manner, Ojai (with it’s low population base) fared poorly.
Now, being at the receiving end of any crime is no picnic, but the actual crime numbers of Ojai are minuscule when compared to other cities. Ojai seems like one of the safest places on Earth until its actual crime numbers are broken down into incidents per thousand people, as was done in this report.
Polls and studies, like novels and movies, are very much alike. All are creative works of fiction and hardly worthy of serious attention, much less being used to shape public policy.
BRUCE ROLAND
Ojai
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