Program Has Neighbors Shooting Neighbors . . . With a Radar Gun

THOUSAND OAKS —  An engine hums in the distance, and a pair of eyes quickly scan a digital display on the dashboard of a car parked along Northam Avenue. A radar wave hits the oncoming car and bounces back: 40 in a 25-mph zone.

Busted.

Sort of.

The citizen-run Neighborhood Speed Awareness Program is up and running in Thousand Oaks and has caught more than a dozen violators so far, each of whom was sent a friendly warning by mail. None of the violators were pulled over, and many probably never knew they were being monitored.

But the civilians operating the radar don’t want public credit for their work. Worried about the wrath of neighbors, they have asked the city to keep their names secret.

“You never know what people are going to think of you for doing this,” said Marilyn Bell, a resident who pushed for the program last year.

Last week, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department began mailing warnings to drivers who were spotted speeding in mid-January on Northam Avenue.

Volunteers in the program will next set up shop on Greenmeadow Avenue, between Lynn and Newbury roads, within the next week and a half, said John Helliwell, a Thousand Oaks traffic engineer who runs the program along with associate civil engineer James Mashiko.

The sixth-month pilot program, the first of its kind in the county, was approved by the Traffic and Transportation Advisory Commission in Thousand Oaks last spring to address citizens’ complaints about speeders. It gained City Council approval in October.

The idea is to politely inform neighborhood lead-foots that they are breaking the law, in hopes of changing their driving habits, Helliwell said.

“It’s really not even a warning,” he said of the notices mailed to 13 motorists Jan. 30. “We just want people to realize they were going too fast for that street, and hopefully they can correct it.”

No sheriff’s deputies are involved, just citizens who are trained to use the radar. They sit in their cars and write down license plate numbers and descriptions of vehicles breaking the posted speed limit.

The information is forwarded to the Sheriff’s Department, which then checks to see if the plate numbers matchup with the respective car’s description in DMV records. Notices are sent to registered owners, said Sgt. Claude Robillard, whose signature appears at the bottom of each letter.

At the request of the volunteers, neither the city nor the Sheriff’s Department--which polices the city under contract with Thousand Oaks--will reveal names of radar-gun handlers.

“We don’t want neighbors holding it against their fellow neighbors,” Helliwell said. “That’s our main concern.”

Bell, 42, declined to say whether she is one of those volunteers. But the Greenmeadow Avenue resident understands the fear of reprisal that volunteers have expressed.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re just part of a pilot program that’s trying to make this street as safe as the next one, but some people could construe it as us being vigilantes,” she said.

Speeders already reply with shouts and obscene gestures when she calls for them to slow down, Bell said.

“It can get pretty bad with some of the younger drivers, and I have a family. No one wants this to cause any trouble,” she said.

Helliwell said there is a waiting list for residents who want training on the use of the radar guns, and the city projects that the program could be run in up to a dozen neighborhoods throughout Thousand Oaks before June.

This summer, the City Council will receive a report on the trial effort, including a staff recommendation on whether to continue the project, Helliwell said.

Robillard said that if the program is a success citywide, he believes the limits are endless for this type of community policing.

“Ultimately, I’m not sure where this will lead, but hopefully it can become a continual effort to educate people,” he said. “Speeding is serious business for police, but these residents can help lighten our load to allow us to be places where we might be needed more.”