Ventura’s Crime Rate Drops to Lowest Level in a Decade

After registering the county’s highest crime rate a year ago, Ventura experienced an extraordinary drop in lawbreaking in 1995, reporting Monday its lowest level of crime in at least a decade.

Santa Paula and Port Hueneme also saw sharp declines in their crime rates, reflecting a trend first reported in Oxnard last month.

Ventura Police Chief Richard Thomas said the drop from 5,323 to 4,642 crimes reflected not only a dramatic year-to-year decline but a decade of improvement in the city’s war on crime.

“With one exception, we have solved . . . every single significant gang incident in the city of Ventura in the last seven years,” he said.

The city’s crime rate in 1995 was 46.1 per 1,000 residents. By comparison, the previous year’s crime rate stood at 54.9--the first time in recent history it had surpassed neighboring Oxnard.

The figure is based upon crimes in eight categories cities must report to the FBI: murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts, auto thefts and arson.

Port Hueneme recorded 41 serious crimes for every 1,000 people, compared with 46 last year. Santa Paula’s crime rate was 48.5, down from the 52.5 the city experienced in 1994 and “the lowest crime rate in my recollection,” said Police Chief Walter Adair.

Ventura Chief Thomas cautioned that annual comparisons are often difficult to make because the low number of crimes in some categories can often skew figures. For instance, Ventura can claim an 80% decrease in homicides: The city recorded one murder in 1995, compared with five the previous year.

Still, even given the small statistical samples, this year’s figures for Ventura are especially noteworthy, Thomas said. Crime dropped 16% last year compared with 1994 and decreased 18% from 1985 figures, he said.

He attributed the decline to strong crime suppression and prevention efforts, including community-oriented policing and the more than 10,000 people involved in Neighborhood Watch programs.

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Ventura recorded drops in every major category of crime except rape last year. Auto thefts dropped 5.6%, burglaries 12%, thefts 13%, robberies 16% and assaults 30%. There were 24 rapes in the city last year, compared with 23 in 1994.

Oxnard, traditionally the county’s most crime-plagued city, reported a lower 1995 crime rate as well: 50.2 compared to 1994’s 54.7.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, which patrols five local cities as well as the unincorporated portions of the county, and the Simi Valley Police Department have not yet released their annual crime reports.

Port Hueneme, which provided its figures Monday, saw all categories of crime drop last year except petty theft, which jumped 17%. There were no murders in 1995, compared with two in 1994. In general, total crime declined 10.5%, Police Chief John Hopkins said.

Hopkins was somewhat at a loss to explain the decrease, especially since the drop occurred with three fewer full-time police employees last year, he said.

Santa Paula’s decrease in crime wasn’t all good news, however. Although thefts declined substantially, most categories of violent crime increased, Adair said. The exception was murder, which didn’t occur at all last year, the first time since at least 1988.

In a report to the City Council, Adair said he believes people’s attitude toward the perceived level of crime in Santa Paula has “bloomed into outright dissatisfaction.”

“The feeling I get is that there is far more crime and criminal activity in town than the raw numbers presented in this report suggest,” he said. “There is, I believe, a perception that the town is becoming crime-ridden and nothing is being done by the city to stop it.”