Grants Help City Bolster Police Force

Patching together federal and state grants, the City Council has found enough money to bolster the police force by hiring two more police officers, an extra detective and a management aide.

Council members voted unanimously earlier this week to accept $225,000 in grants from the federal government over the next three years to help pay for three new Ventura County sheriff’s deputies to serve Thousand Oaks: two patrol officers and a misdemeanor detective.

The patrol officers will be the city’s first full-time bicycle police, cruising Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Moorpark Road and other major thoroughfares while keeping an eye out for trouble.

Almost a year ago, merchants along Thousand Oaks Boulevard raised money to buy the Sheriff’s Department two fully equipped police bicycles--each costing about $1,000. But they have been seldom used because of lack of personnel, said Cmdr. Kathy Kemp, who oversees Sheriff’s Department operations in Thousand Oaks.

They will soon get plenty of use, she said.

“This is going to allow us to do something we’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Kemp said. “They [bicycle patrols] are a lot harder to spot than black-and-whites. And they are something the merchants really wanted.”

Thousand Oaks laid off its misdemeanor detective in 1991, and since then smaller crimes have not always been investigated promptly, Kemp said. The new detective position will ensure that police get to the bottom of more petty crimes--and get potential felons into the criminal justice system earlier.

Thousand Oaks, which contracts with the Sheriff’s Department for police services, currently has 85 sworn officers. Kemp said she expects the three new officers to begin by October.

Council members also accepted $74,000 in state block grants over the next two years to help pay for a new management assistant to coordinate the city’s police volunteer programs. The civilian assistant will do a job that has until now been done by sworn officers--freeing up another person to catch bad guys.

Thousand Oaks was notified earlier this year that it was eligible for the federal grants, which are the result of President Clinton’s crime bill. But city leaders had to think carefully before deciding to accept the money.

The catch with the federal grants is that once they run out, Thousand Oaks will have to pick up the full tab for the four positions. And because the grants cover only a portion of each officer’s salary and related costs--which combined average $100,000 a year--the city has to pay the remainder of the bill right away.

“Once you take the grants, you have to find a way to continue the positions,” said Councilman Mike Markey, a Compton detective. “That was a serious consideration, and I know several other cities have turned down the grants because they couldn’t afford it down the road.”

But city leaders recently learned that they had more money available to them for law enforcement than they had expected. That is because Thousand Oaks, like all California cities, will soon receive special funds from the state for law enforcement services. Gov. Pete Wilson recently signed a bill implementing the funding program, and Thousand Oaks officials are expecting $250,000 from the state budget this fiscal year as well as in future years to help pay for more police officers.

With the combination of state and federal money, Thousand Oaks will need only $198,000 from the city’s general fund to pay for the new positions over the next three years, according to a city report.

“This really was a significant benefit,” Assistant City Manager MaryJane Lazz said of the state appropriation. “Otherwise, we would have had to get $450,000 somewhere, and that would have been much tougher.”