Police Resource Center to Open

In an effort to create a stronger police presence, the Midtown Ventura Community Council will soon open a center in a mini-mall where officers can visit or write reports.

The “community resource center,” scheduled to open as soon as 50 volunteers are found, will be at 1700 Thompson Blvd., Community Council Chairman Bill Barbee said. Property owner John Greene agreed to donate the space.

The center, to be staffed by volunteers, will be unlike a storefront police substation; it will have no full-time police officers but will provide a space for officers to write reports, make phone calls or gulp down a cup of coffee.

The city has three police storefronts: west side, downtown and Montalvo. A fourth substation at the harbor closed in October for lack of funding.

The city has another community resource center in Cabrillo Village in east Ventura. Barbee said he hoped the resource center would provide a safe haven for students after school, and would perhaps help curb drug sales and prostitution. “Ultimately we hope to have police stationed there,” he said.

A police officer from the downtown storefront will give residents a report at 7 p.m. tonight at the Midtown Community Council meeting at Grace Church, 65 MacMillan Ave.

Those interested in volunteering at the resource center may call 662-2514.