Crime in the VCCCD has slowed down with the apporach of summer, a trend which is standard and indicates the efficiency of campus law enforcement.
Chief of Police James Botting explained that police can look at crime trends to determine the underlying reason that led up to a surge of any particular type of crime. This year there were several crime spikes that stood out at each campuse, but the cause was often easy to recognize.
“It’s really quite amazing when you look at the statistics,” Botting said. “The main spikes of activity are in August and again in January when everyone’s coming back to school, but when there’s any kind of spike, we act on it.”
Botting said that criminal activity on college campuses follows a pattern of high spikes of crime at the beginning of each new semester, each of which is followed by a trend of decreasing crime as the semester comes to an end. Unpredictable, recurring or significant criminal incidents can occur without warning at any campus. When this occurs, campus police work to determine the cause and respond to the problem, and their effectiveness is evident through the quick recession of alarming crime.
Misdemeanor traffic arrests were on the rise at Ventura and Oxnard campuses this semester. Most often, these involve people caught and cited by campus police for driving without valid licenses.
“The reason that these are so frequent is because of the swap-meets on the weekends at V.C. and O.C.,” Botting said. “Often times it’s not actually students being cited, but swap-meet visitors.”
Notable crime trends that were seen throughout the district this semester include a rise in petty theft, particularly of cell phones. Vandalism increased at Ventura College over Fall and Spring semesters, ending last year’s lull that resulted after campus police caught a self-proclaimed “graffiti artist” red-handed in 2005.
There has also been an increase in recorded drug violations at Ventura College since police have identified an on-campus hotspot of for drinking and drug activity, and taken action to frequently patrol this area and investigate loiterers.
“A number of students and non-students have been caught hanging out in this area in the northeast corner of the Ventura Campus,” Botting said.
Botting explained that the increase in recorded drug-related crime at Ventura College means that more people are getting caught now that police know where to look; this does not necessarily indicate a rise in drug-use on campus.
Moorpark College saw a significant rise in hit-and-run’s ever since the parking lots were re-engineered to accommodate more spaces. Botting explained that while this new layout does indeed allow more students to park in the lots, he and other police predicted the impact that these perpendicular spaces would have on traffic accidents when the idea was first discussed, and their concerns were validated by the frequency of hit-and-run’s that have been reported this year.
The VCCCD Police Department Crime Statisticsare available for anyone to view online. Visit the VCCCD Police Department Website which provides a link to the comparative Part I and Part II offenses that have been reported at Moorpark, Ventura, and Oxnard Colleges from 2003 to 2005.
