Crime Rate Drops Nearly 17% in Year

Crime in Oxnard--from homicides to theft--dropped nearly 17% from 1997 to 1998, according to statistics released this week.

Property crime, including burglary, larceny and theft, decreased by more than 17%, while violent crime, including homicide, rape, robbery and assault, showed a decline of 11%.

The number of robberies showed the most dramatic decrease, from 518 in 1997 to 393 last year, a drop of 24%. There were 61 rapes in 1997 and 47 last year, a 23% decrease.

Although the number of homicides increased by three, from five to eight, the number has dropped drastically over the past six years, city officials said. Until two years ago, there were an average of 12 homicides in the city each year.

“Aggressive work by patrol officers and detectives as well as our community policing efforts have paid great dividends,” Oxnard Police Chief Art Lopez said. “A thousand neighborhood patrollers have also had a major impact.”