Ventura County considered too safe to recieve federal Police Funding (Fresno: 2009, low crime)

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Just read an article in the Ventura County Star that shows Ventura County as one of the safest counties within the nation. Even Oxnard that seems to get a bad rap from many was too safe to recieve any government funding to add Police officers. Perhaps crime is relative to where you live. For those that live in Simi or Thousand Oaks the amount of crime in Oxnard is too much to bare. For most of the nation though Oxnard would be considered a safe place to live. Kind of puts all this into perspective.

Here is the article,


Police federal stimulus funds elude county : Local News : Ventura County Star

[FresnoFacts]

There was one requirement in this grant program that kept some cities/counties from applying.

These grants provide 3 years of position funding but the law enforcement agency had to agree to pay the 4th year of salaries for the positions. (Basically the 4th year is the local matching amount)

Some cities and counties did not apply because they were afraid their budgets might not improve enough and they would need to cut elsewhere to fund the 4th year.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

7,200 agencies did apply with Oxnard, Ventura, and the Ventura County Sherrifs Dept being part of those that did apply.

[FresnoFacts]

Sorry, I didn't make my point clear.

Some agencies did not apply because they don't see their budgets improving enough in the next 3 years.

Those that did apply apparently see a near full budget recovery in the next 3 years.

It is encouraging to me that so many California cities and counties applied, although a few did not.

[Kalika]

"I" before "E" except after "C."

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

What does applying have to do with it? Are you saying that the agencies that did not apply have less crime or more crime than those that did apply? The article states that Ventura County cities did not get any money because they are considered to be not as bad as other places within the nation. Many areas within the LA area did get funding. Many places in the inland Empire also recieved funding. We in Ventura County including my city, Oxnard, had too few crimes to be considered.

Lets say that many places did not apply because of the amount that they had to pay out during the 4th year. Of the 7,200 agencies that did apply, all of them in Ventura County were not considered due to low crime statistics.

[FresnoFacts]

No, that is not my point.

I understand that your area was considered too safe to get the grants. That is great that they were considered too safe.

I was trying to point out an additional good thing about future economic forecasts for regions that did apply.

There is something like 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the US. Only 7,200 applied for this program, so a large number of agencies passed on applying for this program.

Many (not all) who skipped this grant did so because of the 4th year funding requirement.

They were afraid to be locked into finding the money in the future. I've seen quotes to that effect in various media reports around the country.

Cities/counties that did apply apparently forecast a full (or near full) budget recovery in the next 3 years.

Agencies that applied appear more optimistic about their future budgets than some of the others that did not apply.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

That is a fair summation Fresno. Didn't realize how many agencies decided to forgo asking for the funding. Does bring another point to the equation, when you get money from the feds, you are beholden to them as well. Maybe it is better to not get the money.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

Ventura County including my city, Oxnard, had too few crimes to be considered.

"Ventura County ... safest county west of the Mississippi..." the article says.