Oxnard Group Gets Capital Crime-Fighting Tips

While political hopefuls spend these preelection days debating solutions to the nation’s woes, a group of Oxnard police officers and neighborhood council leaders actually went to Washington, D.C., to find answers.

Led by Oxnard Police Cmdr. Lee Wilcox, the group attended the fourth annual National Conference on Preventing Crime, where they sat in on workshops about public housing, youth activities and community policing.

“It’s good networking for us,” Wilcox said. “We can see what other communities are doing and what’s working. Anything we can do better for the community is a positive thing.”

One seminar, taught by two high school students from Miami-Dade County in Florida, outlined how cities can establish “youth crime watch” networks at schools, using student patrols and campus hotlines.

Wilcox said although Oxnard’s schools don’t need to do that yet, local police officials plan to boost resources available to students through the city’s Police Activities League.

Between a little sightseeing and one-on-one discussions with state and federal politicians, the Oxnard group had time to tout the city’s crime prevention successes.

For two years, officers have worked long hours on the department’s federally funded “weed and seed” program, which involves strict and targeted enforcement of drug and probation violations, while at the same time offering outreach programs for families and children.

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An Ojai bail bondsman and his wife were sentenced recently to 120 days in jail for staging the theft of their leased Volkswagen, which was found in a storage facility south of the border.

Thomas, 31, and Dianna Esparza, 30, were convicted at trial of multiple counts of insurance fraud, stemming from false claims filed on their 1996 Jetta, which was stashed in Rosarito, Mexico, prosecutors said.

”. . . the Esparzas also claimed that numerous items, including a CD changer, custom steering wheel, custom wheels and custom pedals were stolen from the car,” according to the district attorney’s office.

Police picked up the case when Dianna Esparza filed a report, claiming her car was stolen from a Thousand Oaks mall May 18, 1998. A day later, she went to her insurance company to file a claim for the loss. A week later, the insurer received word from Mexican authorities that the car was in storage at a Rosarito towing yard, after being ticketed in Rosarito as an abandoned vehicle May 16--two days before it was reported stolen.

In cases of leased vehicles, an insurance payoff can sometimes be enough to cover remaining car payments and leave an extra few thousand dollars in cash, authorities said.

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Book smarts do make better cops.

Oxnard Police Chief Art Lopez believes that and has decided that the officers on his force need more training on how to deal with the mentally ill.

Although it was planned months ago, the first group of Oxnard officers will attend an eight-hour training session Friday, less than two weeks after a mentally ill man who stabbed three people was shot and killed by Ventura police.

A preliminary report said the shooting was justified, but police departments still study such incidents to learn where improvements can be made.

“We’re the largest city in the county, and as a result of that probably have the largest mentally ill population in terms of homeless people,” Lopez said of his decision to make the training mandatory.

Oxnard beat cops have often said they come in contact every day with people on the streets who suffer mental illness but the only training they have is the little bit they received at the academy.

During the class, officers will learn how to identify the mentally ill, recognize certain symptoms and handle people during investigations.

In general, Lopez said, law enforcement agencies have been slow to react to the problem of helping and handling the mentally ill, but that police need to start somewhere.

“We don’t always do a very good job,” the chief said. “But we have to have these special skills to deal with that issue.”

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Holly J. Wolcott can be reached at 653-7581 or at holly.wolcott@latimes.com.