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Police and fire officials report low property crime, increased fire-readiness and new tools for emergency response
Summary
The sheriff's office reported a record-low number of residential burglaries in 2024 and described investigative successes. Fire and public-works leaders outlined preparations — pump-station generators, reservoir management, traffic-signal backups and community outreach through VC Alert — to reduce wildfire risk and improve emergency response.
The City of Thousand Oaks and Ventura County public-safety leaders briefed the council on crime trends, fire-preparedness and infrastructure work to maintain emergency response.
Chief Perris, reporting on behalf of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, said officers transitioned to the FBI’s national incident-based reporting system for 2024 and cautioned that year-to-year comparisons are affected by the change. He highlighted specific reductions, however: "We only had 59 reports of residential burglary in 2024," Perris said, calling the figure the lowest on record and crediting community partnership and investigative tools for the improvement.
Perris and other speakers described investigative successes including taking down a transnational burglary ring; he also said license-plate-reader data helped detectives identify suspect vehicles. The department plans to test a "Drone as First Responder" program to get aerial situational awareness to scenes within minutes.
On wildfire readiness, Division Chief Jeff Shea of the Ventura County Fire Department described after-action reviews and contingency staffing plans tied to red-flag conditions, including engine and hand-crew staffing and aviation resources. The city’s public-works director, Cliff Finley, described steps the city has taken to harden infrastructure: installing emergency generators at pump stations to preserve water delivery when power is lost, topping off reservoirs before high-risk periods and implementing battery backup for key traffic signals (battery reserve up to eight hours) and deploying generators when needed.
Staff and the mayor urged residents to register for the county alert system. "If you haven't, I encourage you to enroll in VC Alert and monitor VC Emergency because that is where the…information as it's occurring in its most accurate and its most time sensitive is gonna be applied," Jeff Shea said.
Council members asked about interagency coordination, water supply and traffic-signal strategies for evacuation routes. Fire and public-works officials said close coordination among departments and mutual-aid agreements has been critical during recent regional fires.
