(Editor’s note: This story is the first in a series on 2025 crime data for Ventura County.)
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, which serves more than half of Ventura County, saw a slight increase of 4% in total criminal incidents last year 2025, year on year.
The sheriff’s office provides police services for the cities of Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Camarillo, Fillmore and Ojai. It also serves unincorporated areas such as El Rio, Somis and Piru.
The agency saw an increase of about 508 incidents of crime in 2025 compared to the year before, jumping from 12,336 incidents to 12,844 incidents, according to data reported to the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System.
The biggest increase came from violations such as possession of illegal drugs in the crimes against society, which jumped 23% compared to the year before, from 3,705 incidents to 4,559 incidents. The agency credits the higher numbers to proactive enforcement for drugs and drug equipment, weapon and prostitution violations, according to a news release.
Prostitution violations jumped to 61 incidents from just six incidents in 2024, while drug and narcotic violations went from 2,313 incidents in 2024 to 2,843 in 2025, an increase of nearly 23%, sheriff’s officials said.
The sheriff’s office reported 10 homicides, one less than last year, but assaults increased by more than 100 in 2025.
Stations in Camarillo, Fillmore and Thousand Oaks noted that many of the assault cases were domestic incidents, according to Senerey De Los Santos, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.
There were 7% fewer property crimes, such as robbery, motor vehicle theft and arson, 5,796 reported in 2025 from 6,203 the year before, according to the data. Most property crimes decreased, except for arson, which had 21 more cases than last year.
The sheriff’s office credits the extra cases to factors such as dry and windy weather in 2025 and proactive enforcement, said Detective Dan Turock, in an email.
The agency’s homeless liaison and bomb and arson units, and Ventura County Fire Department investigators were more proactive about enforcement in areas such as the Santa Clara River bottom, said Turock.
The agencies added extra patrols in the wake of the Palisades and Eaton wildfires early last year and were able to make arson arrests, especially in areas such as the river bottom, Turock said.
Investigators don’t necessarily think people start fires maliciously, but in certain conditions, starting fires can be reckless or negligent, the detective said.
While overall crime figures for the sheriff’s office increased, all cities saw a drop in crime, but a big leap in unincorporated areas.
Sheriff’s largest city sees drop in overall crime
Thousand Oaks, the most populous city in the sheriff’s office jurisdiction, saw a 8% drop in crime overall going from 4,186 incidents in 2024 to 3,863 incidents last year.
Crimes against property including theft were down by 12% and crimes against society such as illegal drugs dipped by 7%, while crimes against people including assaults increased by 5% year over year.
Like other areas throughout the county, there was an uptick of assaults, with the city seeing a big jump of 42% in aggravated assaults. There were 128 reported aggravated assaults compared to 90 the year before.
Despite a drop in crime, assaults are up in Camarillo
Crime was down by 8% overall for the city of Camarillo, going from 2,880 incidents of reported crimes in 2024 to 2,659 last year.
The city saw a big drop in crimes against society such as illegal drugs, with 21% less reported crimes and 4% less crimes against property including theft.
Crimes against people such as assault increased by 6% year over year, with assaults accounting for the greatest uptick in the category.
Crime drops in all categories for Moorpark
Moorpark saw an 11% overall reduction in crime, seeing only 848 reported incidents in 2025 from 956 the year before.
The city was one of the few in the sheriff’s jurisdiction that saw crime lower in all three categories. Crimes against people including assault fell by 10%, crimes against property such as theft were lower by 3% and crimes against society such as illegal drugs dropped by 28%.
The last category, crimes against society including illegal drugs reported only 196 incidents in 2025 compared to 273 the year before.
Smallest city in the county sees crime drop
Ojai is the smallest city in the sheriff’s office’s jurisdiction and also saw fewer reported criminal incidents.
Overall, crime in Ojai was down by 11% with 251 total reported cases compared to 282 in 2024.
Despite the city seeing a 15% rise in crimes against society including illegal drugs, the category only had 8 more incidents than in 2024, going from 55 to 63.
Fillmore sees assaults more than double
The city of Fillmore had the sharpest decrease in crime among the cities in the sheriff’s office’s jurisdiction, 13% less year over year. The sheriff’s office reported only 852 incidents in 2025 compared to 978 the year before.
Fillmore, along with Moorpark, saw drops in crime in all categories for 2025. Crimes against property including theft fell by 21%, while crimes against society such as illegal drugs fell by 5%.
Despite the 21% drop in the crimes against people category, the city saw aggravated assaults more than double from 24 incidents in 2024 to 49 last year.
Crime nearly doubles in unincorporated areas including El Rio, Piru Somis, Saticoy
The unincorporated areas of the county include El Rio, Piru, Somis, Saticoy and other small communities. Collectively, those areas saw the greatest increase in crime, going from 3,054 crimes in 2024 to 4,371 last year, a marked jump of 43%.
Crimes against society such as illegal drugs more than doubled, going from 993 incidents in 2024 to 2,200 incidents in 2025.
The other two categories of crime also increased, with crimes against people such as assault rising 9% and crimes against property such as theft up by 3%.
Ernesto Centeno Araujo covers breaking news for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at ecentenoaraujo@vcstar.com, 805-437-0224 or @ecentenoaraujo on Instagram and X.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Total crimes in T.O., Camarillo, Moorpark, Ojai down; some crimes up
Reporting by Ernesto Centeno Araujo, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
