Reported Hate Crimes in Ventura County Drop in 2002

Mirroring a state trend, hate crimes in Ventura County dropped last year compared with 2001, but the area ranked in the top 10 statewide for such offenses.

There were 38 reported hate crimes in Ventura County in 2002, down 24% from 50 the year before, according to Hate Crime in California 2002, an annual report released by the state Department of Justice.

“There’s been more attention paid to the issue of hate crimes ever since Sept. 11,” Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said in trying to explain the decrease. “People are more tolerant of their neighbors. Americans are rallying together in the fight against terrorism and seeing the walls come down. People in Ventura County have responded very admirably.”

While the ninth annual report included statistics from all counties in the state, not every law enforcement agency submitted data. The Ventura County statistics included reports from the sheriff’s patrol areas in Moorpark, Ojai, Thousand Oaks and unincorporated regions and from city police departments in Oxnard and Ventura. There were no data in the report from Simi Valley, Santa Paula, Port Hueneme, Camarillo or Fillmore.

Each city that reported statistics had a decrease in hate crimes except Oxnard, which saw a rise from two in 2001 to nine last year.

“With the numbers so small, it’s hard to draw significant conclusions,” said Oxnard police spokesman David Keith. “I think the increase could be a sign that people are more aware of hate crimes when they occur and are reporting them.”

The Oxnard cases involved vandalism and were motivated by the targets’ race, religious beliefs or sexual orientation, said Assistant Chief Chuck Hookstra, adding that officers received special cultural awareness training that included handling hate crimes.

Thousand Oaks led the county with 13 offenses in 2002, compared with 15 the year before. Eight hate crimes were reported in Ventura last year, versus 15 the year before. A total of 38 hate-crime victims were identified in 2002, versus 66 in 2001 in Ventura County.

Deputies responding to hate crimes follow a procedure established in 1995, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Renee Ferguson.

“It’s much more detailed than, say, patrol deputies dealing with a shoplifter,” she said.

Deputies must notify both a watch commander and a field supervisor, who is required to respond and assist in the investigation, she said.

“We want to make sure everything is done appropriately, that all actions are taken to not only thoroughly investigate the case but tend to the needs of the victim,” Ferguson said.

A majority of the county’s hate crimes stem from activity by juveniles in white supremacist gangs, authorities said. The crimes have included assault but more often involve graffiti and other types of vandalism. The county’s Jewish temples and Islamic mosques have been targeted.

Authorities credited training and increased intelligence since the terrorist attacks for the steady numbers of suspects who were identified and prosecuted.

According to the report, 33 suspects in hate crimes were identified by authorities in 2002, and six were convicted, compared with four in 2001.

The most dramatic jump in individual city statistics was in Thousand Oaks, where deputies were unable to identify any hate-crime suspects in 2001 but made a dozen identifications last year.

An identification does not always mean an arrest was made, authorities said.

Of the state’s 58 counties, Ventura ranked 10th overall in reported offenses, which are defined as crimes motivated by race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin or physical or mental disability.

The 38 offenses in Ventura County compared with 43 in San Bernardino County, 66 in Alameda County and 72 in Sacramento County.

Los Angeles County led the list with 798 reported offenses, according to the report.

Fresno County, which is similar to Ventura County in population, had 28 hate-crime offenses in 2002.