Plan for Roving Unit of Deputies Backed

Although Moorpark has one of the lowest crime rates in the nation, city leaders have agreed to back plans for a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department crime suppression team in case the city is suddenly plagued by a rash of criminal incidents.

Members of the Moorpark City Council said Wednesday night they support letting the county spend $1 million of Proposition 172 money to pay for a team of about 20 roving deputies to be used throughout the county whenever a law enforcement problem arises.

Passed in November 1993, Proposition 172 levies a half-cent sales tax to give public safety programs an assured source of funding.

The concept of using some of that revenue for the roving unit came from the county’s association of city managers, Moorpark City Manager Steve Kueny said.

“It’s a way to ensure that some of those sales tax dollars that are generated in the cities are spent where those dollars come from,” Kueny said.

Councilman Bernardo Perez worried that city officials would have little control over when and if the team could be used in Moorpark.

Lt. Marty Rouse, who heads up the Moorpark Enforcement Division for the Sheriff’s Department, assured the council the team would be used as equitably as possible.

“Say there’s a sudden rash of burglaries in Moorpark,” Under Sheriff Richard Brycesaid.

“Or if there is some major event, such as the Oxnard Strawberry Festival, we could send a unit in.”

The county Board of Supervisors will consider the plan in two weeks.