FBI Ranks County Safest Urban Area in the West

By SCOTT HADLY

Oct. 4, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Even with communities across the nation recording some of their lowest crime rates in recent memory, Ventura County remained the safest urban area in the West in 1996, according to new FBI figures released Friday.

The annual uniform crime report showed that Ventura County easily retained its distinction as the urban area with the lowest crime rate in the 13 states that make up the FBI western region.

The county’s 1996 crime rate was also lower than the two previous years and continues a fifth straight year of declines for the area.

Clearly the news is good for law enforcement agencies, which give credit to better community-based policing efforts, more active gang enforcement and tougher prosecution of those caught committing even lesser felonies.

Another factor that sets Ventura County apart is strong community involvement in Neighborhood Watch and other crime prevention programs.

“I can’t really make a comparison to other areas but I can say that we never have a shortage of volunteers here,” said Chief Deputy Bob Brooks of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

“The residents here are willing to do whatever you ask,” said Brooks, who heads the East County Sheriff’s Station, which patrols Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and the unincorporated portions of eastern Ventura County.

Brooks said the county’s top ranking is most helpful in measuring what works in fighting crime.

“The ranking I think is of more interest for those who might want to move their business or residence,” he said. The FBI’s annual report also showed a 3% drop in crime across the nation.

The report is based on data submitted by more than 16,000 city, county and state law enforcement agencies across the U.S. The data tracks serious crimes and includes the total number of homicides, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, thefts and auto theft.

Regionally, Ventura, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties ranked one, two and three among the West’s safest urban areas.

Except for slight increases in the number of robberies and homicides, the county had extraordinary reductions in felony crime across the board.

Earlier this year Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks ranked first and second respectively on a list of the safest cities in the U.S. with populations over 100,000 or more. And on Thursday the California Department of Justice released its report on crime in the first half of 1997 that shows a continued downward trend.

Those mid-year statistics showed an 8% drop in crime in California. Thousand Oaks posted the largest decrease in crime during the first half of 1997 according to that report with a 22% drop, Ventura had a 10% decline and Oxnard 4%.

Simi Valley, which last year was the safest city in the nation, had little change in its crime rate over last year.

Ventura County’s crime rate was on par with other urban areas in the nation like Bismarck, N.D., and Ithaca, N.Y. There were more than a dozen urban areas in the East and Midwest that had crime rates lower than Ventura County. Johnstown, Pa., had a crime rate of 16.8 crimes per 1,000 residents, about half of Ventura County’s rate.

The drop in the crime rate here follows a long-term downward trend, reflecting state and national declines. And the declines in the first half of the year are even more encouraging, officials said, considering that last year Ventura County recorded its lowest crime rate in more than 25 years.

But law enforcement officials said they were not taking the drop in crime for granted.

“We have a lot of work to do as long as there are people out there that don’t feel secure in this community,” said Chief Brooks. “The news is good, but as long as there’s crime it’s never going to be quite good enough.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Southern California Crime Rates

Serious crimes* per 1,000 residents

Ventura County: 32.5

Santa Barbara County: 38.8

Orange County: 39.8

San Diego County: 46.2

Los Angeles County: 54.4

Riverside-San Bernardino: 55.6

10 Safest Urban Areas in the West

Ventura County: 32.5

San Luis Obispo County: 34.5