Ojai House packed for meeting on police oversight
by C.A. Gilman

Despite the brisk weather, speakers and listeners filled the terrace of the Ojai House on North Montgomery Street Wednesday evening to hear about a proposed independent police oversight commission to examine police behavior and over-enforcement.
Sarra Jubinville, who spearheaded the event, said, "The city of Ojai has a budget of $5.6 million; $1.7 million or 33 percent of this budget goes to the police. We have too many police patrolling our streets."
Jubinville had not invited the police because she had feared their presence would hinder people from coming forward with their stories. She said that she been getting phone calls from people in the city and unincorporated areas too.
Christopher Columbus, one of the event's organizers, and Meg Goodwin, owner of Ojai House, had asked Ojai Chief of Police Gary Pentis to attend in order that he be aware of what the complaints were and address their issues. Three other off-duty police were also in the audience.
Pentis said, "No police officers are here on duty like a spy network. We are here because we are part of the community and we care about this community. If a citizen feels the police have mistreated him, he can call the station and their complaint is written up. Sometimes the complaint is from misunderstanding and miscommunication and all it takes is a phone call."
If the matter is more serious, Pentis said a supervisor will interview the person, deputy, any witnesses, and investigate the scene, if necessary, to issue a finding that is shared with the complaining party.
"When there are complaints that I don't think should be handled in-house because of potential controversy, I'll send it to Ventura to the Internal Affairs Division which will do a similar investigation but with someone from the outside. Then they will contact the citizen with those results and resolutions.
"If they are not happy with that, then they can come to the City Council."
Pentis said he thought that putting together a commission was a waste of money and staff.
He added, "I agree there are times we could use better communications - on both sides. I was insulted that I was uninvited to this meeting." (Jubenville had reportedly called Pentis to ask him not to come after Columbus and Goodwin's invitation.)
City Councilmember Rae Hanstad invited people to call her if they have a complaint, whether or not they live within the city limits.
Between sipping cups of hot coffee to fight off the evening chill, a number of the audience rose to speak.
Mark Andrizzi said, "I expect officers to hold the same rigor with keeping the driving laws as we do. That means stopping at stoplights, not parking on sidewalks, signaling when turning, etc."
A man named Omar said he had been ticketed for spitting on the sidewalk. Most cities have an anti-spit law. He and a few others said they felt that they were stopped more frequently because of their skin color or their baggy clothes.
Bob Daddi, an Ojai insurance agent, said, "In 1997 there were 1,887 traffic tickets issued in Ojai. Last year there were 558. 111 people were injured in the city because of traffic violations. Are we really over-enforced? We are the fifth-worse traffic violation city of our size in the state. If we don't like the rules, we need to go to the city."
Michael Kaufer said, "It's an environmental issue. Ojai is a peaceful town with low crime rate. The number of police cars is affecting the environment. We need to have our own village police force."
Ojai's police force is part of the Ventura County Sheriff's department, and is contracted to provide law enforcement by the city. Pentis said the city has two 24-hour seven-day a week patrol cars and two deputies on duty at all time. They are backed up with 50 percent of Pentis's time and 50 percent of another detective. There is one deputy for 40-hour per week motorcycle officer and one part-time traffic cadet on 20 hours a week. There is also one 40-hour per week dispatcher. After she leaves, all calls are sent to Ventura.
Pentis said, "It is a misperception about Ojai being a training center for the county. With attrition of our senior officers, we've had younger deputies in all our cities. Of the 40 personnel in our station, 17 live in the valley. Police should be a reflection of the community. We have different problems here than we have in Thousand Oaks or Camarillo. I also agree that we should be held to a higher standard than we are. We're in a fish bowl. I expect them to hold themselves to this standard. We also have to remember, we're all human. We all get black and white fever. And we do need better communication."
Police statistics on drug arrests in Ojai are the highest in the county; there is also a lot of domestic violence in the valley.
Someone asked what their rights were when they are stopped by the police.
Pentis answered, "The only way your car can be searched is if you give your consent, or they see something in the car that looks suspicious, or you are on probation. The police need to have probable cause to search you or your car. If they don't have probable cause, this is a violation of your civil rights."
There was a sign-up sheet for those interested in joining the committee for the Police Oversight Commission.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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