Mikels, Parks Fighting Plan to Close Jail

Ventura County Supervisors Judy Mikels and Linda Parks have joined forces to oppose a plan by the sheriff to close the East County Jail in Thousand Oaks next month.

The two east county representatives are expected to meet with leaders in Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Moorpark as early as Monday to discuss ideas to avoid the planned Aug. 17 closure.

“We can be a formidable pair if you make us mad,” Mikels said. “I’m really, really unhappy with this. We should not be cutting service in the east county more than we cut it in the west county.”

Mikels said she wants to search for solutions other than providing additional funding that county government can’t afford.

The Board of Supervisors approved a 3.75% increase in public safety spending, though Sheriff Bob Brooks had said his department needed a 17% hike to avoid cuts in service.

Brooks on Thursday said he would move forward with plans to close the booking facility on Olsen Road.

“We have ... spent a lot of time setting our priorities based on the safety of the public, not for politics or budget tactics,” Brooks said Friday. “I think we made the best choice we could under the circumstances.”

Shuttering the bottom floor of the 15-year-old building, where about 3,500 suspects annually are booked into custody, is expected to save $800,000. Nine officers are to be transferred.

Brooks closed the women’s Honor Farm in Ojai last month and transferred its 200 inmates to the main jail, a move expected to save an estimated $4.2 million.

Brooks said a $10-million shortfall in his budget allocation means he must find ways to save $5 million more, possibly by cutting back on training and eliminating a 15-person Crime Suppression Unit that fights gangs.

Closure of the East County Jail -- also used by the California Highway Patrol, the county Probation Department, the state Department of Fish and Game, Santa Monica Mountains park rangers and Moorpark College campus police -- means all suspects would be booked into the main jail at the county Government Center in Ventura.

“We’ll have deputies tied up transporting people rather than on patrol and fighting crime. One of the reasons there is so little crime here is that we pay to have deputies here to prevent it,” said Moorpark Assistant City Manager Hugh Riley. “We don’t really fault Bob Brooks, but we sure wish he could find another way to fix this. We’re just upset with the whole situation.”

Sheriff’s Department officials estimate it takes about an hour to book a suspect into the East County Jail, including travel time that is expected to grow to two hours or more when deputies have to transport people to the main jail.

“When a deputy is booking someone in East County, they are still in Thousand Oaks and could respond immediately to a crime if one suddenly occurred. They can’t do that if they’re sitting in line in Ventura,” said Thousand Oaks Councilman Dennis Gillette, a retired Sheriff’s Department official.

Cmdr. Keith Parks, who serves as Thousand Oaks police chief, said he is considering various methods to keep deputies on the street, such as using reserve officers to help transport prisoners, taking two suspects at once to jail whenever possible and writing more citations rather than making arrests.

Moorpark’s chief, Capt. Richard Diaz, said his force of 21 officers would be stretched thin by the closure. Currently, there are three regular cars on patrol throughout the city in the evenings.

“We only field a small number of cars here, so if one of those cars is in Ventura on a booking that’s a significant loss,” he said.

Proceeds from a local half-cent sales tax are set aside specifically for public safety agencies, generating as much as $40 million annually, with the lion’s share going to the Sheriff’s Department.

Mike Sedell, Simi Valley’s city manager, said it’s unjust that so much law enforcement funding comes from sales taxes generated in the east county but is spent on the west county.

“We’re getting a very disproportionate share of it back in services,” said Sedell, whose city has its own police department. “We’re getting slapped in the face once again.”

The Thousand Oaks City Council is scheduled next week to consider whether to seek a temporary restraining order against Brooks to keep the jail open.

The city, which has a $17.1-million contract with the Sheriff’s Department for services this fiscal year, paid to construct the east county station, which will remain open.

Councilman Ed Masry said that keeping the local booking facility open was crucial but it should not cost the city more money to do so.