Council to Consider 3 Police Proposals

Three proposals aimed at reducing crime and aiding crime victims will be heard tonight by the City Council.

The council will hold a public hearing about the proposed use of a $239,081 state grant to fund the Police Department’s Special Problems Section, which focuses on anti-gang and community policing efforts.

The money will be used to keep the section at its current strength. The unit includes four officers and a sergeant.

Also on the council’s agenda is a proposal from the Ventura County district attorney to station a victim advocate at the Police Department.

The county’s victim advocates work with domestic-violence cases and offer crisis intervention and support during trials.

Funding for the advocate would be provided by the county. The city would have to provide an office for the worker, but the county would provide the office equipment.

The district attorney also will request the city’s endorsement of a countywide anti-graffiti ordinance.

If approved, the ordinance would require that spray-paint containers be “graffiti-proof” once such products are available on the market.

According to the district attorney’s request, a “graffiti-proof” container would be one “that severely limits one’s ability to use spray paint in public or on the property of another without consent, yet allows for the product’s lawfully intended use in or near homes or places of business.”

If “graffiti-proof” containers have not been produced within three years of the ordinance’s approval, the ordinance would be removed from the books.

The council meeting is at 6:30 tonight at City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road.