Police cutbacks are one way the City Council has responded to reducing the $6million gap between the city's revenues and its expenditures.

A rover squad car that patrols the streets of Thousand Oaks has been cut back from 84 hours a week to 40 hours. The reduced hours will save $300,000 a year, but the impact will be slower response times and fewer arrests, according to Finance Director John Adams.

The position of hitandrun officer will continue to go unfilled at a savings of $225,000 per year.

In an attempt to narrow a $10-million budget gap, the sheriff's department has proposed closing the Ventura County Sheriff 's Department East County Jail.

The possible closure of the jail on nearby Olsen Road will also greatly affect the number of police officers fighting crime on the streets of Thousand Oaks.

Instead of using valuable time driving back and forth to the main jail in Ventura, police could be working in Thousand Oaks, said Councilmember Dennis Gillette, former Thousand Oaks Police Chief.

The 30-mile, half-hour trip each way also increases fuel costs.

—Nancy Needham