WHO'S WATCHING THE NEIGHBORHOOD? SUBURBAN GROUPS SEE SHARP DROP.

Byline: Andrea Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Moorpark resident Edward Cassese used to lend a lot of support to the Neighborhood Watch program at his condominium complex. Now, he couldn't participate even if he wanted to - the group has disbanded.

The group's demise mirrors a trend across the city - participation in the program has plummeted over the past decade as crime rates have dropped and homeowners' fears have abated.

``If people think there is a crime problem now - in the 1990s, it was really bad,'' Cassese said. ``It's like 90 percent better than it was.''

Only three of 36 Neighborhood Watch groups formed in Moorpark in the mid-1990s remain in existence, said Senior Deputy Ed Tumbleson, a community service officer for the Ventura County Sheriff's Department.

During the same period, reports of property crimes such as burglary fell by nearly half in the city of 31,000 residents, from 480 incidents in 1995 to 245 reports in 2002, Tumbleson said.

In Simi Valley, an effort to revitalize the Neighborhood Watch program has nearly doubled the number of active groups to 30 over the past three years, Sgt. Paul Fitzpatrick said. Still, 70 other groups have fallen idle, he said.

Burglary rates in Simi Valley have dropped nearly every year to about a quarter of 1975 levels, even as the city's population has boomed nearly 50 percent, to 111,000 residents.

Violent-crime rates have remained low in both cities in an area consistently ranked one of the safest communities in America.

``There's not a fear of crime in our community at this point,'' Tumbleson said. ``Most people react more to fear of crime than actual crime. With the decline in the perceived fear comes apathy. I don't know what else to attribute it to.''

Moorpark's enthusiastic participation in Neighborhood Watch in the mid-1990s, when crime rates also were relatively low, may have been sparked by television newscasts, said Barry Glassner, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California and author of the book ``Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things.''

``There was a high level of fearmongering on the TV news about crime in suburbia at that time,'' Glassner said. ``It's in periods of fear that people organize these groups. When the fear subsides, the groups aren't as likely to thrive.''

The decline of Neighborhood Watch in Moorpark bucks a national trend that has seen the number of groups almost double in the past two years to nearly 15,000, said Eric Schultz, who tracks the program for the National Sheriffs' Association in Alexandria, Va.

Many Neighborhood Watch groups form in high-crime areas where illegal activity significantly impacts quality of life, Schultz said. It's natural that residents here are less motivated to participate, he said.

``I can understand that if there is no crime, people don't want to get involved,'' he said. ``But you don't want something to happen and wish you had it. Crime has a funny way of coming back.''

Originally formed in the late 1960s to prevent property crime after a spike in suburban burglaries, Neighborhood Watch is still the most effective crime-prevention tool available, Tumbleson said.

Groups receive training from police and can put a dent in violent crime, gang activity and drug dealing as well as break-ins, he said.

The groups provide a vital service to police by serving as the ``eyes and ears'' for officers who can't be present in every neighborhood all the time, Tumbleson said.

``It's normal to say we want government to take care of our problems, but law enforcement is not designed to take care of every problem,'' he said. ``We need the participation of the residents.''

Andrea Cavanaugh, [phone]

andrea.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) A Neighborhood Watch sign is posted near University and Borges drives in Moorpark.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer