Strategic Plan & Annual Report

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The Crime Fighting Strategies of the Ventura Police Department are outlined in our 2020-2023 Strategic Plan, en Español aquí

Strategic Plan Measures

Stats and Comparisons Reflect information from January through December 2022.

Each goal is accompanied by performance measures to indicate our successes. Additionally, we identify strategies to guide our actions and provide a path to success. These citywide performance measures include some of the key indicators used by the police department to assess the level of crime in our community as well as the result of the efforts of our crime fighting resources.

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Why This is Important?
Providing for the protection of life and property is a core function of the police department. The timely arrival of a police officer to a reported crime in-progress or other serious emergency is vital to prevent injury or death, apprehend suspected criminals, identify witnesses and evidence, and enhance the ability to solve the given crime.

What Is Being Done?
The Ventura Police Department prioritizes all calls for service. Emergency and in-progress crimes are given the highest priority. Response times to these calls are reviewed on a monthly basis and compared to our goal of responding to emergency and in-progress crimes in less than 5 minutes. We also have the goal of arriving on scene for Priority 2 and Priority 3 calls within 10 & 20 minutes respectively.

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Why Is this Important?
In the FBI"s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, crimes are considered to be "cleared" when an arrest is made, when the suspect is charged with an offense, or the case is turned over to the court for prosecution. National crime clearance rate comparisons of similarly sized cities provide a baseline to assess the effectiveness of policing within communities. This is important information because solving crimes can be an indicator of police effectiveness as well as police-community collaboration.

What Is Being Done:
Solving crime is the product of effective community policing efforts and provides a significant deterrent for criminal activity. Depending on the seriousness and complexity of the crime, it may be assigned for further investigation by detectives. Solvable cases result in arrests and are considered “cleared.” Unsolved investigations are tracked and open cases are reviewed to see if additional information has resulted in new leads. 

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Why This Is Important?
The work of sworn police officers is vital to the safety of our community. As in any kind of business providing a service, the delivery of that service is directly related to the availability of highly trained and available personnel to provide the service. 

What Is Being Done?
To ensure sworn demographics align with those of our community, we are developing a police explorer program with representation from all city districts, expanding our recruitment efforts, and evaluating our hiring/selection process.

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Why This is Important:
The impacts of vagrancy can have a significant impact on the quality of life in a community. Measuring police calls for service to behaviors related to vagrancy helps to define the scope and depth of the problem as well as a indicator of the success of the citywide strategies implemented to address the issue.

What Is Being Done:
To decrease community complaints related to vagrancy, we're working the City Attorney's Office to update the Chronic Offender Ordinance, enhancing our coordination with County Behavioral Health, and are designating specific "enhanced patrol" officers to focus on vagrancy related calls.

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Why This is Important:
Maintaining safe neighborhoods helps make our community a better and safer place. This measure aims to reduce identified crimes that impact neighborhoods compared to the annual average from the last 3 years.

What is Being Done:
A few strategies we're implementing to increase collaborative efforts and decrease crimes that impact neighborhoods include: creating an in-person Neighborhood Watch Program, participating in the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) grant operations, and are focusing investigative resources on addressing narcotic/property crimes in neighborhoods and public spaces.

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Why is Use of Force:
The application of physical techniques or tactics, chemical agents, or weapons to another person. It is not a use of force when a person allows themselves to be searched, escorted, handcuffed, or restrained.

Why This is Important:
Efficiency and accountability are important in building public trust and we are committed to increasing transparency with our community.

What is Being Done:
To increase transparency and attain a 100% "within department policy" for all use of force incidents, we are providing bi-annual statistics for use of force, public complaints, and department training, improving the way we track complaints, and are conducting use of force skills training and testing twice a year.

Read about VPD's use of force policy HERE.

Read about VPD's Public Complaint Report HERE.

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