Mobile Crime Watch Would Use Motorists in the Anti-Crime Drive : Public safety: A Thousand Oaks councilman proposes enlisting the help of citizens on the road.

By STEPHANIE SIMON

Sept. 10, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

As he motors around Thousand Oaks on business, interior decorator Roger Pero would like to report unsavory activity to the police.

But he’s never quite sure what the police need to hear.

“I don’t want to be a nemesis, calling in with things like ‘Mrs. Murphy doesn’t have her seat belt on,’ ” Pero said. “I want to be of service to our city without being a pest.”

To train residents such as Pero, who logs 60,000 miles a year driving in the Conejo Valley, City Councilman Frank Schillo has proposed forming a mobile crime watch program.

As with the Neighborhood Watch program, police officers would train residents to identify suspicious goings-on, from kids tagging a wall with graffiti to a drug dealer flagging down customers. Participants would also learn how to report potential crimes, including how to identify shady characters and whom to contact at the sheriff’s station.

“The idea is to let the bad guys know there is a trained bank of people out there, driving around in cars that are not black and white, who could call in and catch them in the act,” Schillo said.

Schillo said he would consider asking the city to give roaming crime-spotters cellular phones programmed only to dial 911. The Ventura County Transportation Commission this spring agreed to buy such phones, at a cost of $275 apiece, for disabled drivers who cannot easily reach freeway call boxes.

Many prospective crime watch volunteers would not need the freebies because they already own cellular phones to use in their business travels, Schillo said. Pero, for example, routinely calls authorities to announce traffic snarls, fresh graffiti or car accidents.

Another cellular phone owner, architect Gary Heathcote, said he called police just this week to tell them about suspicious-looking people selling household goods out of a van. With training, Heathcote said, he would have known what details to look for.

“It’s a great idea,” said Heathcote, incoming president of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce. “People who do crime won’t know who’s watching them.”

The Thousand Oaks City Council this week authorized staff members to analyze the costs and benefits of a mobile crime watch program. Because the volunteer participants would not jump into dangerous situations, but would simply alert police from a safe distance, Schillo said he foresees no liability problems.

“This is not a vigilante group by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “They’re just the eyes and ears of the police, not the feet and arms.”

Although the program remains sketchy, police so far have expressed enthusiasm.

Senior Deputy Paul Higgason, a crime prevention specialist who runs Neighborhood Watch training workshops, said patrol officers are so busy responding to calls that they have little time to actually walk their beats. An army of trained volunteers, he said, would help police identify hot spots.

“We’re not always out there roving around, so it is important for people to call and get our attention,” Higgason said. Officers cannot always respond immediately, but “no matter when we get there, the call is important in bringing us to the area,” he added.

The City Council has yet to formally vote on the mobile crime watch program, and several council members expressed concern about the cost and effectiveness of training volunteers.

“It sounds worthwhile, but we’ve got to be very careful,” Councilman Alex Fiore said. “We don’t want a lot of people running around with 911 cellular phones . . . calling in things that are not important and tying up police resources.”