Thursday, August 7, 2008

Reported City Violent Crime Drops

Police chief says gangs moving criminal activity to valley’s unincorporated areas

By Daryl Kelley
Property crime in Ojai dropped dramatically during the first half of 2008 as petty thefts and auto burglaries plummeted, while violent crime remained at the same low level as the year before, according to a new police report.
Overall, Ojai experienced 92 serious crimes from January through June, compared with 148 for the same period last year and 139 for the first half of 2006, reported the county Sheriff’s Department, which polices Ojai and the rest of the Ojai Valley.
That’s a 38 percent overall drop in crime in Ojai from the first half 2007 compared with the same period this year.
Meanwhile, major property and violent crime in the rest of the valley was down slightly through the first six months of 2008 compared with 2007, despite a spike in gang activity in Meiners Oaks and Oak View.
In the city of Ojai, there were reports of only seven serious violent offenses — rapes, robberies and assaults (no murders) — during the first half of this year. But petty thefts were cut by more than half, from 87 to 38, accounting for most of the overall drop.
“Crimes of violence in the city remain low, at about the same level as last year” wrote Capt. Bruce Norris, who serves as Ojai police chief, in a report to the City Council. “As for property crimes, we saw a big decrease in thefts from vehicles.”
Early in 2007, the city was hit hard by thieves prowling for property in parked vehicles, and smashing windshields if the doors were locked, Norris reported. Several thieves were arrested in mid-2007 and convicted, he said.
Since then, “many fewer thefts from vehicles have been reported,” he wrote. “Within the last few weeks, however, we’ve had a repeat of these crimes. In several of those cases, the victims’ vehicles were unlocked, and they left valuables inside.
The biggest spike in Ojai crime came in felony vandalism, which rose from nine incidents in 2007 to 22 for the first half of this year. Misdemeanor vandalism also rose in the city, from 65 incidents to 69.
“Senseless damage” to property, such as vehicles and homes, accounted for much of the increase in felony vandalism, Norris reported. Some of the damage was done by graffiti, he said.
But the most significant development of the year may have been the near absence of gang violence inside Ojai city limits, Norris reported.
“The most telling thing I’ve noticed about city crime over the last year is that violent and assaultive gang activity is almost nonexistent,” he wrote. “For whatever reason, most of our Hispanic gang activity has moved out to the unincorporated areas. We are having the ‘normal’ levels of gang graffiti in town, but much of that seems to occur in Libbey Park. We’re enjoying the quiet for now, knowing that it might not last.”
But the story was different in valley areas outside the city, where assaults and vandalism were up sharply.
There, misdemeanor assaults rose from 33 to 43, and felony and misdemeanor vandalism increased from 86 incidents in the first six months last year to 120 for the same period this year.
“This appears to be the result of tensions between our local Hispanic gang and non-Hispanics from Oak View and Meiners Oaks,” Norris reported.
“There are only a few troublemakers on each side,” he wrote. “But those few require significant law enforcement attention. We have made repeated arrests of members of those groups, but their rivalry is strong and a long-term solution is difficult.”
Calls for police assistance were down slightly throughout the Ojai Valley.
In the city, there were 42 fewer disturbance calls and 34 fewer suspicious circumstance calls during the second quarter of 2008 alone. There were also 51 fewer property crime calls in the first six months of 2008.
In the county areas, there were 50 fewer theft calls during the first half of the year.
“My hunch is that the decreases are driven by less gang activity in the city, and possibly the effectiveness of Social Host Ordinance enforcement,” Norris wrote.
That 2-year-old ordinance carries a fine of $1,000 for anyone who allows underage drinking at a residence. So far, 11 city residents and 24 residents of the rest of the valley have been fined, the police chief said.
“We seem to be responding to fewer underage drinking party disturbance calls,” he said.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Norris talks about the ongoing rivalry situation between the OSL and the MOB being hard to put a stop to. He admits there are just a few thugs involved, and obviously they know who they are and where they live. Why do they keep hauling these idiots in, only to turn them lose? We need a gang injunction so we can prohibit them from hanging with their homies. Hang with a homie and go to jail. Simple. We all know these people will all end up in Pelican Bay someday. Let's keep breathing down their necks.

Anonymous said...

The cops don't have much to say about who ultimately gets turned loose and who doesn't. Most of those decisions come from the DA's office.

Anonymous said...

No kidding! You missed the point. The point was THEY KNOW WHO THESE THUGS ARE. Catch them doing something that they can be held for. The point of the gang injunction is just that.

Anonymous said...

Why should cops work overtime to catch punks who are going to get thrown right back out onto the streets without ever having been formally charged so that they can laugh at the cops and get right back to being little jerks with complete impunity? If you were a cop would you bust your butt to work within a system that all too frequently sides with the evil-doer?

It doesn't matter what the cops know or who they know. What matters is that they get some backup in the courts and the DA's office, and, God forbid, from the people who gave birth to and raised the little criminals.

Ojai doesn't have an anti-gang injunction. The unincorporated County doesn't have one either. Only Oxnard has one. Other cities have been waiting to see how the challenges to this ordinance play out in court before they write and institute their own ordinances. If Oxnard's ordinance were to be overturned by the Supreme Court, every arrest and conviction made under this ordinance would be tossed out, and all of the arrestees would be able to sue Oxnard into a black hole.

Anonymous said...

So, our entire justice system is pretty much a joke. Why then, do we not just do away with law enforcement as it is now, save a whole bunch of money and go back to the wild west days and let everyone pack their own peacemakers on their hip?

Anonymous said...

I agree with the idea of catching these twerps doing something they can be held for. We all know they are up to no good. Constant watching of them will assure them getting caught

Speaking of Oxnard...been reading the news on the latest Oxnard cop getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Rampart come to mind?

Anonymous said...

Anyone come accoss the young men from (they say) Oxnard selling magazines and books to raise money for this and that and if you say you aren't interested they don't leave, but keep pleading louder and faster and get a little closer to your face? They often come by the house in the late afternoon. It is becoming more and more frequent and next time they don't leave I will have to tell them I am going to call the police.

Anonymous said...

next time they don't leave I will have to tell them I am going to call the police.

Isn't that kind of harsh? How about telling them that you're thinking about sleeping on the idea of asking your spouse about whether or not you should ask your pastor whether or or not he should ask the Elders whether or not they should ask God whether or not you should call the police? I mean, it looks as if you're about ready to wildly overreact here. You should allow them to visually inventory the contents of your living room and assess your financial position at least 5 or 6 more times before you go completely off the deep end and do anything as radical as calling the police to anonymously report any kind of repeated suspicious activity in your neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

Isn't that kind of harsh?

LOL! Nice one.

With these salesmen, there is a high-pressure pitch with a disturbing subtext.

I haven't had to call the police yet, but they do not even acknowledge a series of polite "no's". The last time I closed the door after explaining I couldn't talk anymore and my answer was "no", the young man stood on the porch and yelled out my street number twice. It was intimidating, as it was intended to be.

Anonymous said...

I had a magazine subscription salesman stick his foot in my door when I tried to close it. I called the cops after I told him that I was going to close the door as hard as necessary to make it latch, no matter where his foot happened to be at the time. For a second I thought he was going to come through the door, which would have been just fine with me at that moment. Instead, he glared at me and then left. When he was off my property, I made the phone call. The deputies found the guy and took him to the Ojai substation. I never saw him again. This was in 1988, so this kind of thing has been going on for awhile.

Anonymous said...

I am not too sure how we got from violent crime to magazine salesmen from Oxnard BUT within the city, at least, they are required to have a City of Ojai business license. I am continually plagued by groups of young men selling door to door RC Cars, toys, electronics and more, and I always ask them if they have a City license, and am always assured they do. I tell them that I will let them show it to the police. That usually sends them packing.

Anonymous said...

Who is doing the reports? Police are a double edge sword say you are law abiding and a cop does not like you and decides to run you out of town you have no rights no due proses the north American union is fast approaching. Most of osl members were sent here from many cities in a poor attempt to lower crime rates elsewhere when they get into too much trouble they are moved again just like the pedophiles.No child left behind my a$$. Cops and all leaders of this country are all corrupt ie the biggest criminal gang around stealing covering up for the thin blue line the citizen's crimes are no competition to the crimes of law enforcement cops drunk or high on the job abusing their power Oxnard was a very sloppy cop who was probably not liked by other cops who did not cover up for him the orange porsche or ferrari that speeds around town running stop sighs disregarding basic traffic laws and our safety is a cop for ventura county pulling you and me over for dim tail lights loud exhaust or other frivolous stops while not obeying them himself a hog can blast threw town at 2:30am loud as hell let me be clear i like loud i don't like hypocrisy and selective law enforcement i don't buy the bs they sell i don't like cops who attempt to intimidate me or my family and when they loose all credibility anarchy will be unleashed upon us all as they run for cover the first thing law enforcement did after Katrina was to go around to all of the legal registered gun owners and forcefully took them away most were at what was a home just with most of it under water and on fire not out looting protecting themselves when the law came up to them with fully auto weapons and more body armor them our army then abandoned their posts the thing i learned was when major trouble breaks out they run away first to protect and serve themselves.If you sacrifice freedom for security you don't deserve ether B.F. respect is earned i don't just hand it out because a few bad cops demand it tough job or not they chose to do it don't try to guilt me into thinking they deserve my respect because they suit up in a cops uniform the police state is right around the corner stand up to them and demand the public service we pay for. transparent government not secret if you fear the police or terrorists the french have lots of room for you. LIVE FREE OR DIE!!!!!!!! down with nwo p.s. don't read all these words just look for misspelled ones and write about them so you feel smart sinsierly one of the last true Americans ARE YOU ONE??????

Anonymous said...

And the Barely Intelligible Run-On Sentence of the Year award goes to....

Anonymous said...

OK thanks first i want to thank god for well everything without him none of this would be possible i want to thank forest gump Jim carry also Jim Henson also tom and Jerry but big thanks to the fluoride in the water and the very rich helping to grab all the land and for telling this free nation just how they want you to live also praise to global warming for without it the rich could not become even more rich a very special thanks to the governor for saving all that cash and pink sliping all of the help thanks to the ojai counsel for wasting time and tax payer money no one can do it better also i cant forget oh what was his name oh ya anonymous for bestowing me to this honor thanks to the dictators oh sorry the bush admin. for making this hypocrisy possible also i thank Santa clause and the Easter bunny lets not forget the tooth fairy and also big thanks to the prime minister a really big thanks to the amazing education system and a big thanks to jack Daniels helping me accept this crap i don't like grammar almost as much as i cant stand the people who protect it better than the constitution thanks

Anonymous said...

here you go . . . ? . . . ! . . . ! . . . . ! ! ? ? . . . . . there put them where you want think dark and smelly thanx

Anonymous said...

Write these words down on a piece of paper and tape it to your shirt (or your forehead if you've eschewed the used of clothing): I need Seroquel.

Anonymous said...

Dude, for sure! Somewhere out there, there is a village missing a nut-job.

Anonymous said...

Whatever you do , don't give the magazine salesman boy/man 5 dollars just to go away like I did. Now I am on their list of people you can get 5 dollars from if you just stand right in the doorway and look intimidating.

Anonymous said...

Einstein has spoken

Anonymous said...

um, yeah, so if a stranger comes knocking on your door, why on earth would you answer it?

Anonymous said...

You would answer the door so they know you are home. If you don't they might decide to come back later and take what you have.

Just a warning be aware of people on bikes going slow in the neighborhood. They are casing houses and returning later to rip you off. Lots of this going on in Oak View right now.

Anonymous said...

The only reason there is a statistical drop in crime is because the cops aren't arresting the criminals. The mexicans are selling dope in broad daylight at the bus station/community center & the cops just drive past. Historically, police that treat crime with such indiference are being paid-off.

Anonymous said...

What a stupid and offensive comment!

Anonymous said...

Offensive to criminals illegal/day laborers and the slime who hire them!cut youre own lawn.

Anonymous said...

Well how do you get more cops get more crime? selective law enforcement. most of the violent or drug,human trafficking warrants are non extraditable mexico will not take its criminals back so they are free to continue no jail no deport. North American Union is coming soon

Anonymous said...

Comments like that are the exact reason why the racial fighting will not end in the Ojai Valley. And just for your information the majority of the ones from ojai are not Illegal immigrants. And stupid comments like the one from before just add to the hate.

live free or die said...

well is it warm up there?if you really believe that you are more than just stupid!!!

live free or die said...

Hate speech is hypocrisy. Mexican nationalists hate us because California was theirs. I don't know any of them. They don't speak my language so i cant hate them. That being said you want to molest my right to free speech!! Try to tell me what i can and cant say by labeling it as hate speech. Hitler had the same idea as you. I am repulsed by you and people like you!! Ill be back after I clean all of the puke of my keyboard you make me sick!!!!

live free or die said...

I would happily be a nut job any day of the week as long as i am not a coward like you guys!!!!