Thousand Oaks City Watch Alert - August 26th

Here is the latest "City Watch" alert from Deputy Jim DeSoto of the Thousand Oaks Police Department. If you are interested in receiving these updates directly from him via email, click here for more information.

Crime Fighters,

I see a lot of happy parents with big smiles. The summer vacation has ended and school, for most districts, will begin tomorrow. From the new energetic kindergartner to the well-versed senior, many will be headed to our educational institutions to begin a year of studies, challenges, and fun. Please be extra careful when driving in or around the schools especially the elementary schools where our future leaders will be attending. If you drive through any of the school areas, leave your homes a little earlier so you can drive slowly in these areas and help keep our children safe.

In reviewing residential burglary reports, a common denominator has been that something had been left ‘unlocked.’ Whether it was a window, door, side gate, side door, sliding door, or garage door, the means of entry was somehow connected to a lockable device that was left unlocked. Many residents keep the front door and windows locked but, unfortunately, leave a side or rear entry point unlocked and open to maintain air circulation within the residence. A majority of the residential thefts occur during the day when the residents are at work or running errands. Most of us believe that someone else will be the victim of crime but if we all take precautions and secure our belongings and property, the payoff might be the phone call to the insurance company that you will never have to make.

Copper wiring has been a hot item to steal and recycle. Now it seems the thieves have expanded their greed and took many aluminum trash can lids from a park. I can only assume the items went for recycling as I do not foresee any other reason these items would have been taken. Their recycling enterprise also expanded to taking copper wiring from boxes adjacent to the freeways. These thieves operate at night and it seems that no item is safe as long as it has something recyclable.

Another vast operation is the fraud that is committed through the Internet. People look to buy items from questionable sites and are later duped into purchasing an item that they may or may not get. Specifically, if you have to ‘wire’ money through an electronic financial transaction, my suggestion is to not make that transaction. The patrol deputies take frequent reports on monies that are transferred to some far off city to an unknown person and the product bought by the victim is never received. Many scheming criminals use wire transfers to take your money. Whether they contact you through the mail (lottery scams) or through the Internet, if a wire transfer is involved, be very wary.

Remember to call dispatch, 805-654-9511, whenever you need to report suspicious/criminal activity or to request a deputy when you need assistance.

Take care,

Jim DeSoto