City is still one of the safest in the nation

After the FBI put out their annual Uniform Crime Report earlier this month, various groups got busy ranking cities that participated in the survey to show which were the safest.

According to city spokesperson Andrew Powers, Thousand Oaks ranked fifth in cities nationwide with a population over 100,000. Simi Valley came in at No. 10.

"Thousand Oaks historically has been a safe place to live, and people come to Thousand Oaks because of that," Police Chief Dennis Carpenter said.

More than 12,000 law enforcement agencies turned in statistics on violent crimes and property crimes used for the rankings. The FBI discourages the safe city rankings because "the range of unique conditions affecting each local law enforcement jurisdiction" can create misleading perceptions when directly comparing cities.

Carpenter prefers to compare Thousand Oaks' crime statistics to the year before, he said. That way the police can be sure what they are looking at is accurate and can see what is working and what needs to be improved.

According to the FBI, from January to December 2007 there were two homicides compared to zero the year before. Rapes were up 45 percent when they went from 13 in 2006 to 19 in 2007. Robberies went down 7 percent from 41 in 2006 to 38 in 2007. Aggravated assaults also decreased from 128 to 87, a 32 percent drop from the year before. This means total violent crimes in Thousand Oaks went down 20 percent.

Property crimes increased by 8 percent, with residential burglaries increasing 22 percent: 166 in 2006 and 203 in 2007. Other burglaries also increased 10 percent, going up from 201 to 221. Grand theft went from 509 to 524, an increase of 3 percent, and petty theft increased from 787 to 883, a 12 percent rise. Auto theft went down 15 percent, from 131 to 111. Arson also decreased 18 percent, from 17 to 14 incidents.

Total reported crimes went up by 5 percent in 2007. Still, the city fared well when it was compared to other cities across the country with similar or greater populations.

Carpenter emphasized how well the police, the city and the residents of Thousand Oaks work together to keep the city safe.

"We have a great partnership with our citizens."

He said residents can help even more by not leaving valuables in parked cars and by keeping their homes locked and reporting any suspicious activity in their neighborhoods.

"We want citizens to call the police if they see anything or anyone out of the ordinary on their street. We don't mind if we're called often to come and make sure everything is all right," the police chief said.

He said some residential burglaries last year could have been avoided if someone had called the police when they saw what looked like salesmen going door to door. It turned out they were not salespeople at all, but burglars breaking into houses; a call to police could have saved some neighbors from loss of property.

"Thousand Oaks residents have shown that they have a desire to live in a safe community. This is demonstrated by our City Council's steadfast support for public safety, a worldclass police department and active resident groups. Collectively, these factors are integral to keeping Thousand Oaks one of the safest cities in the country," Powers said.

Active Neighborhood Watch groups include those in Kelly Park, Calle Frenso and Oakridge.

What sets the Thousand Oaks Police Department apart, according to Carpenter, is how the City Council's support gives Thousand Oaks officers the tools needed for extraordinary policing.

"The Thousand Oaks Police Department has also been a leader in innovative police programs. One example is the Volunteers in Policing program, which has 88 volunteers working with the TOPD," Carpenter said.