Major Crimes Fall Sharply in 3 Largest Cities

Major crimes fell dramatically in Ventura County’s three largest cities last year, with violent offenses down most sharply in Thousand Oaks and burglaries plummeting in Oxnard, according to an annual report from the California Department of Justice.

Decreases in all three cities surpassed the statewide average decline of 8.5% in 1995, with Oxnard posting a 15.1% drop, Thousand Oaks, 10.6% and Simi Valley, 9.6%.

The statewide figures reflect crime in 66 cities and counties with populations of 100,000 or more.

In Oxnard, the biggest declines were in property offenses such as home and business burglaries and auto thefts, which were off 21%, from 2,809 to 2,226.

“Any impact that we’ve had on burglary is due to support from our residents, and also enforcement by our officers,” said Oxnard Police Chief Harold Hurtt.

Oxnard’s violent crimes--murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault--fell by 4.7%, from 1,514 in 1994 to 1,443 in 1995, according to the state crime index.

But murders increased from eight to 11, driven largely by a spate of gang-related slayings. Hurtt said the homicide total is still substantially lower than in 1992, when 17 people were slain in the city.

Hurtt credited beefed-up street enforcement with the overall drop in violent crime, including an 11.6% drop in aggravated assaults.

For example, after a 14-year-old was shot to death near Oxnard High, Hurtt said, he added extra officers to create the department’s first task force against gang violence.

“We probably had 12 to 14 officers out there,” he said. “We usually have around eight.”

In Thousand Oaks, a crackdown on gangs may also have helped cut the number of aggravated assaults.

Thousand Oaks showed the most dramatic drop in violent crimes among the three cities, a 17.5% decrease from 286 to 236 in one year. That included a 25.6% drop in serious assaults.

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Kathy Kemp, who acts as the Thousand Oaks police chief, said the easing of the recession may have cut back on the number of domestic fights that sometimes end in assault complaints.

The City Council has also created a full-time gang unit. “I’m hoping that when we get the [final] data . . . we will find that some of the aggravated assaults related to gang violence have decreased,” she said.

However, the number of forcible rapes in Thousand Oaks rose to 23 in 1995 from 18 reported in 1994--an increase of 21.7%.

Auto thefts, which have been bedeviling motorists and sheriff’s detectives alike in Thousand Oaks in recent years, decreased from 326 in 1994 to 309 in 1995. And burglaries fell from 496 to 447.

Simi Valley’s reduction of almost 10% was due in large part to a hefty 21.8% drop in auto thefts, from 418 to 327.

But violent crime dropped only 3.2%. Homicides increased from one to four, including the slaying of a policeman, the shooting of a young man by a rival gang member and the slayings of two little children by their father.

But the city also showed an 18.3% decrease in aggravated assaults, which dropped from 169 to 138.

Assaults are probably down due to a healthier economy, Mayor Greg Stratton said.

“Some of the pressures that the recession had are dropping down a little bit, and that generally improves it,” he said. “People get in financial problems, and that makes for fights. That stuff is very difficult for a police department to suppress.”

Stratton credited a vigilant citizenry and hard-working police with the decreases.

“I think that continues to be hopefully the deterrent that keeps the outside criminals from coming here” from the Los Angeles area, he said. “Our biggest problem is still outside crime.”

The Simi Valley department’s special enforcement detail has cracked down on gangs and out-of-town car thieves, Chief Randy Adams said.

“I’m a little bit hesitant to hang my hat too much on statistics,” he said. “However, I think that our officers have been trying to do an aggressive job.”

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Large City Crime

Crime in Ventura County’s largest cities last year dropped more than the statewide average of 8.5%. Totals reflect six categories: homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.

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1994 1995 % change Simi Valley 1,287 1,164 -9.6 Thousand Oaks 1,110 992 -10.6 Oxnard 4,323 3,669 -15.1

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Source: California Department of Justice