It’s No Crime to Be 2nd Safest Town, Simi Says

This friendly rivalry could be heating up.

Thousand Oaks may have surpassed Simi Valley as the safest large city in the area--if not the country, according to crime statistics released Friday.

The results in this regional horse race won’t be final until the FBI releases its Uniform Crime Report in June.

But based on the best data available--state population estimates and Simi Valley’s raw crime statistics, released Friday--Thousand Oaks is ahead by a nose.

According to the new data, Simi Valley--last year’s safest city--has a crime rate of 20.95 serious crimes per thousand residents. Although that is down almost 11% from last year, it wasn’t enough to best Thousand Oaks’ estimated crime rate of 19.83.

The differences between the two cities are symbolically very significant to the communities, which have jostled back and forth for the top spots in recent years.

“To my knowledge, it’s not who’s No. 1 or No. 2 that’s important, but the basic fact that we’re both really safe communities, and that’s great,” said Simi Valley Councilman Paul Miller, a former police chief. “Eastern Ventura County is the safest place in the nation to live.”

He waited a beat, then added: “We don’t want to be hogs about this--we have to let Thousand Oaks have No. 1 once in awhile. We had it last year; they get it this year. It’s only the fair thing to do.”

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Kathy Kemp, who serves as Thousand Oaks’ police chief, said her city’s apparent standing this year was attributable to additional patrols, community involvement, City Council support and a growing population.

Even though Simi Valley’s total number of serious crimes is lower than that of Thousand Oaks--2,172 compared with 2,237--its population, as estimated by the state Department of Finance, is about 9,000 smaller. And that drops the crime rate for Thousand Oaks slightly below that of its neighbor to the northeast.

She recalls telling Simi Valley Police Chief Randy Adams at a recent event: “Last year was your year in the sun; this year is our year in the sun. We gotcha only by seconds, but we gotcha.”

The congenial competition between the two communities only benefits the residents, Adams said.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing to have a rivalry over,” Adams said. “If the worst thing that happens to me as police chief is rivaling with a neighbor city for safest city, that would be tremendous.”

Even so . . .

Adams’ department issued a news release Friday that did not focus on national rankings. Instead, it noted that Simi Valley had the fewest total crimes--if not the lowest crime rate--in the state for a city of 100,000 residents or more. He hopes to garner that recognition nationally, too, when the FBI data are released.

While population numbers vary according to who is counting, he said, “there’s no way you can change the raw numbers.”

Adams’ department released its statistics about a month after the Sheriff’s Department--which patrols five cities, including Thousand Oaks. The numbers were held while they were double-checked and reviewed by City Council members.

Simi Valley’s thefts, auto thefts and arsons dropped last year, the new data show, but homicides, rapes, robberies, felony assaults and burglaries were up.

One tragic incident accounted for the increase in homicides from one to five, Adams said. That event was the May 1997 domestic dispute in which Ahmad Salman killed his wife and three children with a hunting rifle before committing suicide.

Rapes also increased from 12 in 1996 to 15 last year. A serial rapist is believed to have committed some of those crimes, and police have devoted more officers to tracking him down.

“We’re working that case very diligently,” Adams said. “One rape in our community is too many. We’d like to get them down to zero.”

Meanwhile, thefts fell from 1,532 to 1,257 last year, and car thefts dropped from 253 to 204, which pleased Miller.

“From time to time, we get auto theft gangs from the [San Fernando] Valley swinging through and ripping us off,” Miller said. “It’s nice to see sufficient pressure being put on them to prevent the thefts.”

Despite the fuss about rankings and rivalries, Simi Valley City Manager Mike Sedell pointed out that the statistical differences in the cities’ crime rates boil down to one crime for every 1,000 or so residents.

“The differences as a friendly rivalry are certainly important--they give us each something to strive for,” he said. “But the margin of difference is within the margin of error--it’s practically insignificant.”