Drop in Violent Acts Leads Fillmore to 18% Reduction in Crime in 2001

Crime in Fillmore fell 18% last year, reaching levels not seen since the 1980s with reductions in categories nearly across the board.

Most significant was the one-third decline in acts of violence, including a drop of 20 felony assaults, to a total of 28. Home burglaries, auto thefts, arsons and vehicle break-ins also fell, according to figures from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

“Obviously, it’s great to see all the good news,” said Sheriff’s Capt. Randy Pentis, who acts as Fillmore’s police chief. “But when I look at these numbers I want to see our weakness, where we can improve.”

That would be in business burglaries, the only category where offenses increased among the eight the FBI uses to set crime rates nationwide. Fillmore’s commercial burglaries increased from nine to 27 last year.

“That’s significant,” Pentis said.

The spike in store break-ins can be attributed mostly to two businesses, a car dealership where losses were noticed when it was sold and thefts at an oil company by an employee, Pentis said.

Still, officers are working with business operators to identify changes that can make their stores harder to crack open at night.

“The only way we have an impact is if we work together with the public,” Pentis said. “We’ll support them with a bicycle patrol, surveillance, patrol [cruisers] or whatever is necessary.”

The Fillmore sheriff’s station has been using the public in crime prevention since 1998, when thieves stole from and burglarized the community at an alarming rate.

Sheriff Bob Brooks sent in a new team of deputies who hammered youth gang members with probation searches in their homes and reached out to Fillmore’s large Latino majority as allies in the war against crime.

A crew of veteran officers, more Spanish speakers and aggressive young deputies helped kick down the walls that stood between Fillmore’s Latino immigrants--many distrustful of police--and law enforcement.

Crime incidents tumbled from 428 in 1998 to 248 in 1999, before increasing to 325 in 2000.

Last year, the farm town of 14,000 residents recorded just 266 crimes.

That is less than 19 offenses per 1,000 residents, slightly better than in 1999 and far lower than the peak rate of nearly 41 a decade ago.

Pentis said the city’s success last year had many authors--cooperative schools and a 20-member citizen patrol that was formed in the 1998 recruitment effort and that is still law enforcement’s eyes and ears in the community.

“That brings the community into the police station, both English and Spanish speakers,” Pentis said. “When there’s not a language or cultural barrier, more people want to talk to you.”

Another key change occurred in early 2000, when a full-time officer was assigned to Fillmore’s schools for the first time, Pentis said.

“That’s had a big impact in dealing with things on campus, finding out what’s going on and earning the trust of young people,” Pentis said.