Patrol Force to Host Community Forum

Sheriff’s deputies will host a forum next month designed to give residents a voice in shaping crime-fighting strategies.

The event, which will include law enforcement officials and community leaders, will be held Jan. 13 at Kavlico Corp. on Los Angeles Avenue beginning at 6 p.m.

Police officers “are learning that the people who know the most about the communities are the people who live in them,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Kory Martinelli, a spokesman for the Moorpark patrol force.

The city contracts for police services from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

“We want the community to come to us and say, ‘Look, these are the problems that we are seeing,’ ” Martinelli said.

About 40 people, including elected officials, city staff members, teachers, representatives from homeowner associations, church leaders and business owners, have been invited to the forum.

Ideas from the meeting will go into Ventura County Sheriff Robert Brooks’ five-year department plan to be formulated next year.

Designed to cover the first five to 10 years of the next century, Brooks’ plan will cover the department’s values, its role in the community, how it can improve training and what kind of resources the department needs.

Martinelli said addressing community needs is an important part of Brooks’ plan.

The forum will be broken into five or six groups whose members will discuss what they think the city’s most pressing problems are and how to address those problems, Martinelli said.