Residents Help Draw Sheriff’s Vision Plan

Moorpark residents expect friendliness from their police officers, along with quick response time and zero tolerance for crime.

The comments came during a recent forum designed to give residents a voice in the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department strategic plan.

Also on the wish list: teenage driver safety and managing truck traffic on New Los Angeles Avenue.

The plan, which will be released in July, is expected to create guidelines that eventually would be part of the department’s vision for the next 10 years, said Cmdr. Geoff Dean, who oversees the department’s activities in eastern Ventura County.

Sheriff Robert Brooks “wanted input from the customers,” Dean said. “He wanted us to meet with them and, if things are done one way and they want them done another, we will change if we need to.”

About 30 people attended the meeting, including school district officials, city staff members, church leaders and business leaders.

They discussed what crime problems they anticipate and what they would expect from the department in the future.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Moy Serrano, an insurance agent. “If you get the worries of a community out there, you get the community involved.”

One discussion group anticipated that, with future development, more people will move into the city and crime rates will rise. The population increase will also lead to more accidents on the road, they said.

Asked what they expect from the department in the future, residents listed maintaining low crime rates, enhanced police technology and a larger police station in Moorpark.