Moorpark Crime Declines

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department has released crime statistics for the first half of the year and, in a comparison of part one crimes for this time period between this year and last, crime is down 17 percent in the city.

Part one crimes consist of violent crimes including aggravated assault, rape, murder and robbery and property crimes including arson, burglary, larceny theft and motor vehicle theft.

Mayor Janice Parvin announced the decline at the City Council meeting Tuesday evening.

“I wanted to say congratulations to (Captain) Ron Nelson, for a job well done,” she said. “We have a wonderful sense of a safe community because of all your officers.”

Both Parvin and Nelson also thanked the citizens of Moorpark for reporting crimes.

“We really don’t do it alone,” said Nelson, before alluding to a quote by Sir Robert Peel, who Nelson called the father of modern day law enforecement. “He said everyone in the community is the police. The polices officers are those community members who get paid to do the job,” Nelson said.

Through June, the City had two reported robberies,down from nine, and five aggravated assaults, down from 12. We had no rapes, down from two last year, and no homicides, which was the case last year as well.

Following are the numbers for the first half of both 2010 and 2011.

Though the numbers are down, the Police Department isn’t planning on letting up, Nelson said.

“We’re not going to sit on our laurels. We’re going to work hard for the second half of the year to see a safe community,” he told the City Council.