Changes in Crime Rates Reported

Law enforcement officials in Ventura and Fillmore this week reported increases in those cities’ crime rates last year.

In Ventura, property crimes rose about 2% to 3,520 in 1998, while violent crimes dropped more than 13% to 330. Homicides rose from four in 1997 to five last year and 37 forcible rapes were five more than reported the previous year.

Burglaries and auto theft had significant increases in Fillmore last year, although grand thefts dropped by 47% to 16 incidents. Total violent crimes in the rural community, including rape, homicide, robbery and aggravated assault, rose some 6% from 49 incidents in 1997 to 52 last year.

Aggravated assaults in Ventura fell to 165 from 232 in 1997, and burglaries dropped from 972 to 809. The city saw its greatest increase in thefts, which went from 2,145 to 2,407.

But Lt. Don Arth of the Ventura Police Department said Wednesday that the city is still substantially below its crime rate in 1991, which remains the highest level in a decade.

There were 449 violent crimes and 5,573 property crimes in Ventura that year, when the city’s population was 93,100, compared to 101,500 in 1998.

“There are more people living here than in 1991, and to have a lower crime rate speaks volumes about the Police Department,” said Ventura Mayor Jim Friedman. “We really do have a very safe environment.”

Fillmore, which has had no homicides in the past two years, was pleased that domestic violence within its borders was on the decline--falling to 36 verified crimes in 1998--a 42% drop.

The overall number of reported domestic violence incidents--where a neighbor or someone involved in the situation calls the police--is still high and holding steady at 125, down one reported incident from 1997. The number of rapes in Fillmore doubled to two cases in 1998.

In Fillmore, which is patrolled by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, residential burglaries rose 77% to 115 incidents last year while auto theft more than doubled from 12 to 25 reported incidents.

The Sheriff’s Department is scheduled to release crime statistics for other contract cities and unincorporated portions of the county on Friday.