Deputies Mount Up to Fight Crime

In addition to the usual security measures, the Camarillo Premium Outlet Center is using a special weapon to discourage thieves this holiday season: sheriff’s deputies on horseback.

Moreover, a group of Boy Scouts, positioned on store rooftops and armed with binoculars and two-way radios, will serve as a lookout for the horse patrol.

The extra security measure will be in place every weekend through the end of December.

Indeed, most malls throughout Ventura County have beefed up security staff on the weekends, including The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks and Buenaventura Mall in Ventura. The Esplanade mall in Oxnard will have two police officers on bicycles circling the parking lot.

But it doesn’t appear that anyone will have quite the view of the deputies in Camarillo.

In an effort to deter shoplifting and vehicle burglaries, sheriff’s officials decided to take an unprecedented approach and send deputies on horseback to the 46-acre center that has more than 100 stores and 2,000 parking spaces.

“Putting them on horses gets them to a height where they can look for suspicious activity across the parking lot,” Sheriff’s Capt. Keith Parks said.

“Plus, in response to a crime, they can get across the parking lot a lot faster on horses,” Parks said, adding that he knows of no other shopping center taking similar crime prevention measures.

In fact, the bird’s-eye view was one of the determining factors when sheriff’s officials were deciding whether to use the mounted patrol.

“It was the fact of them being up nice and high so they can see out over the parking lot to look for anyone loitering, casing cars or breaking into vehicles,” said Senior Deputy Dan Place, from the Camarillo Police Department.

In addition to two mounted deputies, the holiday patrol will include at least one deputy on a bike and one on foot, plus two members of the Camarillo Citizens Patrol on foot.

And just to make certain that they don’t miss anything, several members from the Explorer Scouts, which consists of Boy Scouts age 15 to 18, will be on rooftops with binoculars to look out for car burglars on weekends.

The holiday patrol, which began the day after Thanksgiving, will consist of only two deputies on bicycles during the week because of fewer shoppers.

The holiday patrol has already prevented the theft of a coat and several purses at the outlet center. It has also resulted in the arrest of a 57-year-old man Wednesday for trying to walk out of a store with a tie, hat and socks.

The same deputies patrolling the outlet center will also occasionally cover the nearby Target, Kmart and Thrifty store parking lots.

“We’re not leaving them out; we’re just concentrating the patrol at the outlet center because of their high amount of activity,” Place said.

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Craig Husband proposed the project because the mall has become so large, compared to when it opened in 1995, that it’s now drawing thousands of customers per day from throughout the region, Place said.

“This project is designed to establish a police presence at the outlet center, which tends to make customers feel safer,” Place said. “It also sends a message to the crooks that we’re out there in force and looking for anybody planning to commit a crime.”

But deputies warn shoppers not to become complacent because patrol efforts have been stepped up. They strongly advise shoppers to lock their doors when they leave their cars and keep big packages locked in the trunk.

Although shoplifting and vehicle burglaries occur infrequently at the outlet center, Place said thefts increase at all shopping centers during the holiday season.

“More people are out and about buying presents, putting them in cars and then walking away to continue shopping, and the crooks know this,” he said.

Not only do thieves become more active during the holidays, but forgers also have a heyday.

“Credit card and check forgers depend on the time lag between the clerk discovering the credit card or check is bad so they can get out the door and drive away,” Place said. “Having the police presence right in the center might deter people from committing the crime in the first place.”

Place said the deputies are not there to replace the center’s security, but to supplement its efforts.

In fact, now that the center has grown to more than 100 stores, compared to only 65 last season, the center’s corporate officials are grateful to receive additional coverage from the Sheriff’s Department.

“The center has grown and everyone in the community has seen the larger numbers of people that come to Camarillo,” said Michele Rothstein, marketing vice president for the management firm that operates the center.

“We’re just taking protective measures because it seems every week, we’re hitting new highs in traffic,” she said, adding that the parking lot is often filled, forcing people to park elsewhere and walk to the center.

“It’s just an all-out effort . . . so that we’re not in a position of having problems to deal with,” Rothstein said.