Crime again declining in Ventura County

Crime is on the decline in Ventura County, according to six-month reports recently released by the sheriff's department crime analysis unit.

With the exception of Moorpark, every city served by Ventura County Sheriff's Department—Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Fillmore and Ojai— as well as unincorporated areas, experienced a decrease in reported crimes from January to June of this year compared to the same time period in 2007.

"We appear to be on a slight downtrend in overall crime," Capt. Ross Bonfiglio said. But he warned, "There's some speculation that it could go back up because of a worsening economy."

Bonfiglio said there's usually a delay in crime when hard economic times hit.

The captain said the sheriff's department's biggest problem is convincing the public to stay vigilant to deter criminals. The department urges people to lock their vehicles and keep valuables hidden.

"If you take small steps to make it more difficult for the criminals, there's a good chance you'll prevent being a victim," he said.

That message seems to have resonated with Thousand Oaks residents.

There was a 12 percent decrease in auto thefts in Thousand Oaks the first six months of 2008. Residential burglaries declined sharply in the city, from 130 in the first half of 2007 to 72 this year.

With 7.8 crimes per 1,000 people, the crime rate in Thousand Oaks is the lowest in the county.

In Camarillo, aggravated assault decreased from 30 to 22, while grand thefts fell from 159 to 143. The only significant rise in Camarillo was in residential burglaries, which climbed from 40 to 52.

Overall, the sheriff's department doesn't see any disturbing trend.

"I don't think there's anything that we're concerned about at this time in terms of crime rate," Bonfiglio said.

Although Thousand Oaks and most neighboring cities in the county are safe, it's a myth that police in the county sit around twiddling their thumbs.

"Our detectives are extremely busy," Bonfiglio said. "There're property crimes, there're assaults—a lot of crimes are being investigated. There are other cities with a super-high crime rate where detectives can't even touch some of their cases. Here, we can investigate just about anything."