Council wants more officers at schools
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

The City Council agreed 4-0 that the best use of police power would be to put three officers on duty at each of the main high schools and to add a detective to focus on Internet predators.

After a year of research, protecting the city's youths from crime is what Thousand Oaks Police Chief Dennis Carpenter focused on when he asked the City Council on Feb. 6 to increase police staff.

Councilmember Dennis Gillette was away on city business.

Carpenter suggested the Drug Awareness Resistance Education program be replaced with school resource officers. Currently there are two DARE officers who would be reassigned as resource officers at the high schools and have some duties at the four middle schools and Conejo Valley High School, he said. One more officer would need to be added.

The DARE program, created to discourage drug and alcohol use and brought to the Conejo Valley in the mid'80s, is no longer considered very effective, Ventura County Sheriff 's Department spokesman Capt. Ron Nelson said after the meeting.

What has been effective, he said, is the presence of officers in the schools.

"Our officers are called to respond to crime on our high school campuses where there are weapons, drug possessions and fights," he said.

In the past, campus incidents were handled more by teachers and the administration, he said.

"Now the schools need to rely more on law enforcement as the crimes have become more heinous, more violent, more serious," Nelson said.

At the council meeting sheriff's department officials said their research showed the three main high schools are among the six top locations in the city that call for police service. The high schools rate Nos. 2, 4 and 6 and are responsible for between 135 and 165 calls for service per quarter.

The council also agreed with Carpenter that the city should add a detective to focus on Internet predators. Myspace.com and other websites for young people have posed a danger that's expected to grow if no preventive measures are put into place, Carpenter said.

After the meeting, Carpenter said police officers have arrested three Internet predators in the past six months.

"A child who is victimized is traumatized, and we want to address this and not just wait for the victim to call and tell us it happened," Nelson said.

The detective could also work with the sexual assault unit and make sure convicted sex offenders are registered and in compliance with the law, Nelson said.

Adding two officers would cost the city from $513,000 to $570,000 in salary, benefits and startup costs for the first year. The special resource officer cost estimates are $200,000, major crime detective $250,000 and one-time startup costs of weapons, vehicles and equipment around $120,000.

"Now the tricky part- how to pay for it," said Scott Mitnick, city manager.

According to Mitnick, the city spends more than $1.5 million every year for youthoriented services that are more typically paid for by counties, school districts, and recreation and park services. Such services include the Teen Center, crossing guards, the DARE program and a community prosecution program run out of the district attorney's office.

"Council's not being asked to approve the money, just the concept," Mitnick said.

Now that the City Council has approved the concept, services that apply over multiple agencies will be sent to an ad hoc intergovernmental relations committee so other agencies can decide if they want to contribute to the costs of those services.