Vehicle Thefts Push Up Oxnard’s Crime Rate

After a decade of decline, reported crime increased in Oxnard last year as gang violence and car thefts soared in Ventura County’s largest city, the Police Department reported.

“I’m dissatisfied that it’s going up,” Police Chief Art Lopez said, “but we look at motor vehicle theft as the biggest cause of that. If you take out that one category, we’re up one crime over last year.”

The 2.1% increase in major crime, including hikes of 20% in felony assaults and 26% in auto thefts, follows a decade in which the number of crimes was cut nearly in half and the rate dropped from 67 offenses per 1,000 residents to about 30.

Indeed, because of a population increase in 2002, the city’s crime rate actually fell slightly last year.

“So we’re almost even, which isn’t too bad,” Lopez said.

Overall, crime was up 113 incidents to 5,413 last year, compared with 10,011 at the city’s peak in 1992.

Although Oxnard’s crime rate is among the highest in low-crime Ventura County, it is one of the lowest in the nation for a city of its size and well below state and national averages.

What is unsettling though, Lopez said, is a sharp increase in violent offenses attributed to an uptick in street gang attacks.

Homicides rose from six to 10 last year, and Lopez said four of the slayings involved rival gangs. Nearly half of the county’s homicides in 2002 occurred in Oxnard, which has less than one-fourth of the county’s population.

A jump in serious assaults from 374 to 449 also reflects increased gang hostilities, Lopez said.

“We are trying to do more aggressive gang enforcement,” he said. “We’re targeting more violent criminals.”

Of the roughly 2,500 gang members and associates Oxnard police have identified, 40 to 50 are the most violent, he said. They are being tracked by a seven-person violence suppression unit that performs surveillance and investigates in a variety of ways, he said.

Under a $200,000 annual grant, the Police Department is able to pull a county prosecutor and probation officer into the process, he said.

Violent attacks increased by 75, although not all of the assaults resulted from gangs, Lopez said. “That’s part of it, but another is that violence is up in the [entire] community ... it’s random and it’s spread out all over the city.”

Police analysts are trying to figure out why, he said.

Also under the spotlight are motor vehicle thefts, up 119 in 2002 to the highest level in many years. Of the 578 total thefts, about 150 occurred when people left keys in their cars, Lopez said.

An additional 50 thefts involved people who took cars for test drives without providing auto dealers with adequate identification, he said.

Police are sending warning letters to area auto dealers. And Police Department spokesman David Keith will focus on the auto theft problem on his weekly cable television show Monday, Lopez said.

Unlike most homicides, which are unpreventable crimes of passion, many thefts can be reduced, Lopez said. “These are things we can work on,” he said.

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Crime comparison

Crime in Oxnard is down from a peak of 67 offenses per 1,000 residents 11 years ago to about 30 in 2002.

1992

*--* Felony Auto Total Homicide Rape Robbery assault Burglary Theft theft Arson crimes 14 75 569 965 2,134 5,144 1,109 47 10,011

*--*

1999

*--* Felony Auto Total Homicide Rape Robbery assault Burglary Theft theft Arson crimes 5 37 357 452 1,029 3,461 455 30 5,938

*--*

2000

*--* Felony Auto Total Homicide Rape Robbery assault Burglary Theft theft Arson crimes 9 60 375 422 921 3,417 455 41 5,700

*--*

2001

*--* Felony Auto Total Homicide Rape Robbery assault Burglary Theft theft Arson crimes 6 38 393 374 917 3,065 459 48 5,300

*--*

2002

*--* Felony Auto Total Homicide Rape Robbery assault Burglary Theft theft Arson crimes 10 35 353 449 913 3,034 578 41 5,413

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Source: Oxnard Police Department