Ojai Valley crime drops
By Lenny Roberts

As it was within the city of Ojai, reported violent and property - or Part I crimes - dropped in the unincorporated areas of the Ojai Valley during the first six months of the year despite a 1.2 percent increase in population.

The area patrolled by deputies assigned to the Ojai Police Station includes Upper Ojai, Meiners Oaks, Mira Monte, Oak View, Casitas Springs and the high-crime laden Avenue section north of Ventura, where the area's lone homicide occurred.

Two people were raped in the reporting period, and robberies increased from one to three when compared with last year. But aggravated assaults plummeted from 13 to eight for an overall 12.8 percent decrease in the violent crime rate.

Petty thefts, which rose from 58 to 61, and commercial burglaries, up three from the 10 during the first half of last year, were the only categories of property crimes showing increases. Those which dropped were residential burglaries, from 23 to 19; vehicle burglaries, from 11 to seven; and grand thefts, from 28 to 22. Reported auto thefts remained at 10.

In Part II or nonviolent crimes, 679 victims were six more than last year, dropping the crime rate-per-thousand people to 28.96.

Offenses of interest on the rise were narcotics arrests, which zoomed 17.8 percent to 192; fraud, up from 12 to 16; and warrant arrests, which increased from 79 to 101

Notable because of their declining rates were arrests for driving under the influence, which dipped to 27 from 35 (although non-driving alcohol-related offenses were up from 15 to 18); simple assaults, from 71 to 60; misdemeanor and felony vandalisms, which slipped from 59 to 46; disorderly conducts, down from 19 to 12; and weapons violations, which dropped from 10 to four. Reports of felony sex offenses other than assaults decreased from 12 to 3, and misdemeanor sex crimes slipped from two to one. Reported forgeries halved, from 12 to six.

Reported missing persons and runaways increased from 10 to 12 and 15 to 26, respectively, and domestic incidents were up 17 from the 72 reported through June 2002. Of those domestic incidents, none involved the use of knives, firearms or other weapons.

There were no reported incidents of gambling, prostitution or bomb activity in the area.
© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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