Crime rates are mixed

A reduction in property crimes helped Oxnard post a more than 12% drop in major crimes during the first six months of the year, while Ventura experienced more robberies, burglaries and thefts, pushing its crime rate up nearly 5%, according to new reports.

“There are no parades happening in these hallways,” said Oxnard Police Chief John Crombach. “This is good, this is progress, but we need to do more work. You look at these numbers, they’re a measure, but you don’t live and die by these numbers.”

Oxnard reported five homicides, one fewer than last year. Aggravated assaults dropped from 189 incidents to 173. Rapes increased from 13 to 20, and robberies jumped from 215 to 259, a nearly 20.5% increase.

All property crimes were down in Oxnard. Burglaries plummeted from 524 to 424, a 19.1% drop, and vehicle thefts fell from 317 to 264, a 16.7% drop. There was a 14.5% drop in other thefts.

Crombach said Oxnard can be proud that as its population has grown to 193,000, the city is nevertheless safer than it was 15 years ago, when there were roughly 45,000 fewer residents.

“We’re blessed to be in the safest county west of the Mississippi,” he said.

In neighboring Ventura, police reported one homicide, and rapes decreased from 15 to 11. Aggravated assaults dropped from 95 to 85 incidents, a 10.5% reduction. Motor vehicle thefts fell from 178 to 167.

But a spike an increase in robberies (from 54 to 83), burglaries (from 357 to 418) and thefts (from 1,246 to 1,278) helped push the overall crime rate up.

Ventura Police Chief Pat Miller said his officers were constantly seeking new and better ways to keep the community safe.

“Our goal is to reduce crime, obviously, but you can’t overreact to these numbers from a six-month period,” Miller said. “You have to look beneath the numbers. Since January, we have seen a decrease every month” in most categories.

A large number of property crimes stem from motorists who fail to take proper precautions, Miller said.

“We always push the property crime issue,” he said. “Most of the thefts are from unlocked cars, and most of those vehicles still have the keys in them.”

The city launched a public education campaign last year to urge residents to lock their vehicles and protect themselves. Kevin Jeffries, a department of public affairs official who developed the campaign, said fliers were delivered to more than 300 businesses in the city, and ads were shown at the two largest cinemas in town to remind people to be careful.

The message being put forward is that half the burglaries and thefts lead to identity thefts, 65% of which occur before a crime report is filed.

A new program will soon be launched to persuade businesses to increase their vigilance to curb crime, either by installing surveillance video systems, keeping valuable items locked up or removing display items from store entrances.

Last week, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department released its crime statistics for the first half of the year. Authorities credited a new gang unit with a 21% decline in violent crime in the unincorporated areas and five cities patrolled by the sheriff’s department.

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