The City Council last week changed the name of the Community Gang Task Force to the Community Crime Prevention Task Force, expanding the committee's role to address and combat a wider range of illegal activity in the city.

"This is the direction we should be going," Councilmember Glen Becerra said. "We should be focusing not just on the gang task force concept but also on the broader concept of public safety."

Over the past 20 years, Simi Valley has consistently ranked as one of the safest cities in America, with violent crimes—homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, auto theft and arson—accounting for 8 percent or less of total crimes.

Although they do not garner as much attention as violent crimes, property crimes—which accounted for more than 92 percent of all reported crimes during that same period—can largely be prevented through education, according to Councilmember Steve Sojka.

"The Police Foundation is actually working in concert with the chief (of police) right now to look at ways to develop an educational process out there," said Sojka. "We're a safe community, and people think, 'I don't have to close my garage; I don't have to lock my car,' and so we are actually doing it to ourselves."

According to a staff report, the formation of a Community Crime Prevention Task Force will strengthen the efforts of the police department to increase awareness in the community about reducing the opportunity for crime.

Established in 1991, the Community Gang Task Force has been credited with helping to lower the number of gangrelated incidents in Simi.

Crime data collected in 1995 indicated an increasing problem with organized street gangs in the city, and gangrelated violence peaked the following year, with 57 gang-related violent crimes reported.

In 2007, that number dropped to 16.

Chief of Police Mike Lewis, who presented the staff report to the City Council, said he expects similar success with the expanded task force.

"By widening the focus of the current Community Gang Task Force and engaging this group in the broader topic of overall crime prevention, the collective expertise will result in the infusion of new ideas and strategies," he told the council. "The task force and the police department working together will be the catalyst for positive change."

While the newly named committee would still work to develop strategies to prevent gangrelated criminal activity, it would also be able to shift direction in response to evolving crime trends and focus on other quality-of-life issues impacting the community.

"They can still deal with issues of gangs, but they can take on a broader role when it comes to looking at the other things in the community that aren't being done by gangs but are being done by crooks," Mayor Paul Miller said.

But Simi resident Dan Mastro, who serves on the task force and worked with the Los Angeles Police Department for 26 years, said all citizens have to do their part.

"They're the eyes and ears of the police department," he said. "It's just really crucial that when people see those things that they have to take a stand themselves, and they have to come forth to report those incidents and hold those individuals accountable for their respective crimes."

Similarly, Becerra suggested that the residents of more troubled areas in the city—such as Patricia and Ashland avenues—be encouraged to organize and to help fight crime near their homes.

"I think that where there are neighborhoods that are looking for assistance, that want to step up and improve their area, we should find a way to formally engage those areas," he said.

Councilmember Michelle Foster, who initially pushed the idea of expanding the task force to encompass all criminal activity, said the involvement of and feedback from residents would be natural outgrowths of the new task force.

"You've got a group that's not just the police department— because that can only go so far. We need to partner with our community," Foster said.

"So you have all the players around the table who have the ability to come together and say, 'What can we do to help prevent crime in our community?'"

Some of the players at that table have changed as a result of the expanded task force. Miller and Becerra resigned their seats on the task force, to which they were appointed in November, and selected Foster and Sojka to take their respective places.

Becerra had suggested the council appoint Sojka because he currently sits on the Police Foundation.

"I would like to see somebody who sits on the task force also be a member of the Police Foundation because they bring resources to the table out of the foundation that I don't have access to," Becerra said.

"I think that this task force would naturally benefit from having access to those funds, to those resources, as well," he said.

Miller said he deferred his position to Foster because of her express desire to serve on the task force.