How to Place a "Security Freeze" on Your Credit File in the State of California

The State of California Office of the Attorney General's office has details about how to put a "security freeze" on your credit file so that your file cannot be shared with potential creditors. California law requires credit bureaus to offer security freezes as a way to combat identity theft.

Why would you want to do a security freeze? To stop identity theft in its tracks! If you FREEZE your credit file, someone who has stolen your personal information will be much less likely to open a new credit card or loan in your name.

Establishing a credit freeze is a bit of a hassle in that you have to place the freeze with all three of the major credit bureaus, then you may need to "un-freeze" the credit from time to time when you are interested in refinancing, getting a new credit card, a car loan, etc. But it may well be worth it...think of the time and stress of dealing with identity theft after it has happened!

A security freeze is free to those Californians who have a police report of identity theft or who are age 65 or older. If you are not an identity theft victim and you are under 65 years of age, it will cost you $10 to place a freeze with each of the three credit bureaus, for a total of $30. 

Placing a Security Freeze

You can request a security freeze by mail or online. Let's stick to online freezes here. Credit bureaus Equifax, Experian and TransUnion each have websites for security freezes:

• Equifax: www.freeze.equifax.com
• Experian: www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
• TransUnion: freeze.transunion.com/sf/securityFreeze/landingPage.jsp

Follow the instructions given and your credit will be locked within minutes. They will ask for your full name, Social Security number, complete addresses for the past two years and date of birth. Then you may be asked to confirm information on your credit report, such as the duration of an auto loan, the amount of a loan, the date you entered a loan, a prior employer, etc. You will need a credit card to pay for the cost of the freeze.

TransUnion requires you to create an account to initiate the freeze. The others, at least one I signed up, did not require this additional step.

As part of the process you will establish a Personal Information Number (PIN) with each bureau. It is important to safeguard this PIN to remove the freeze when needed. Equifax create a 10 digit PIN on my behalf without giving me the option to create my own. Experian gave me the option of creating my own PIN or assigning one to me. TransUnion required me to create my own 6 digit, numeric only PIN. Everyone's gotta be different, don't they.

Lifting a Freeze Temporarily or Removing a Freeze

OK, so you have a security freeze in place, that's great! But now you need a car loan or are applying for credit or insurance, refinancing, filling out a rental form, etc and you need to unlock your credit for these purposes. Using your PIN, you can lift the freeze for a period of time or for a specific creditor. Lifting the freeze will cost you $10 if you are under age 65, $5 if you are 65 or older and free if you are a victim of identity theft (yes, there is a small perk to having your identify stolen).

It is FREE to remove a freeze on a permanent basis.

Lift or remove a freeze at the three credit bureaus:

• TransUnion: freeze.transunion.com/tab/product/securityfreeze
• Experian: www.experian.com/ncaconline/removefreeze
• Equifax: www.freeze.equifax.com

Learn more at oag.ca.gov/idtheft/facts/freeze-your-credit.

Keep in mind that a security freeze DOES NOT prevent someone from finding a way to make charges to your existing credit cards and bank accounts through illegal skimming, phishing, hacking and other means. You must remain vigilant. This means watch out for skimming machines, shred your credit/debit card and other personal information, monitor your bank and credit card activity frequently, etc.

Security freeze laws vary by state. More information at consumersunion.org/research/security-freeze.

Why Posting Your Birthday on Facebook is Not Such a Good Idea

You have 250 Facebook friends ranging from close family members, childhood playmates, high school classmates, frat house buddies, workplace acquaintances and other random people. Some you know well, others not so much. 

Never before have birthdays been so exciting. In your Facebook notifications settings, you can be prompted as to your friends' birthdays automatically. Or if you click your Friends section and click Birthdays, you can see "Friends with Upcoming Birthdays."  It's fun to see 97 people write "Happy Birthday!" on your wall on your birthday!

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But think about it. Do you really want your birth date, a key component of your personal information that can be used for identity theft, openly displayed on your Facebook page?

At lunch today, a friend told me that someone was able to find out his political party, but he didn't know how that happened.

In many counties, voter records are maintained online. Ventura County in fact makes it really easy to find out if you are a registered voter, when you registered and your political affiliation. All they ask for is your first and last name and your birth date. The Voter Eligibility Search is at recorder.countyofventura.org/elections/voter-lookups/am-i-a-registered-voter/#VoterEligibilitySearch.

This friend just so happens to show his birthday on his personal Facebook page. Just month and day, no year. While I didn't know what year he was born in, it took me only two guesses to log in to his voting record. This would not have been so easy had it not been for his posting his birth date to Facebook.

So unless you are interested in making it that much easier to have your identity stolen or personal information discovered, it's probably not a good idea to post your birthday to Facebook. Your real friends will remember your birthday. They either have it memorized or written down somewhere. Or maybe you can give them a hint.

There's a way to restrict access to your birthday on your Facebook page by going to "Contact and Basic Info" => "Basic Information" and clicking the lock icon next to your birthday. You can select Public, Friends, "Only Me" or Custom. "Only Me" is my option of choice. But of course my birthday comes and goes and I don't receive the Facebook-prompted birthday wishes that my friends receive.

Finding one's voter registration status in Los Angeles County at www.lavote.net/vrstatus requires slightly more work than in Ventura County. You need Last Name, Birthdate, House Number and Zip Code. 

More information about how to recover from identity theft

How to place a credit a "security freeze" on your credit file

Overall Crime Rate in Thousand Oaks Up 8% in 2016 Compared to 2015

Excerpt from Ventura County Sheriff's Office 2016 Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) for Part 1 Crimes, 2014-2016 January-December Comparison (released February 2017)

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office has released its 2016 Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) crime statistics for Part 1 Crimes in 2016 compared to prior years. Part 1 Crimes include violent crimes of homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assaulted and property crimes consisting of burglary, theft and arson.

The data was provided by the Sheriff's Office for contract cities of Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Moorpark, Fillmore and Ojai, as well as unincorporated areas of the county.

The good news is that the overall number of reported crimes in all jurisdictions was down 1% in 2016 as compared to 2015, although the violent crime rate increased by 1% (representing six crimes), offset by a 1% drop in overall property crimes.

However, the news for Thousand Oaks was not as positive in 2016 compared to 2015; the overall crime rate was up 8%, violent crimes increased by 21% (from 136 crimes in 2015 to 164 in 2016) and property crimes increased by 7%. 

Let's take a look at what drove the 21% increase in violent crime. About a third of the increase was a result of a 43% increase in robberies in 2016, from 23 in 2015 to 33 in 2016. Also, while the number of assaults using firearms and knives dropped by 50%, other assaults, including the use of "Hands/Fist/Feet" and "Other" (whatever that might be) increased by 36% in 2016. There were no homicides reported in 2016 or 2015.

Reported property crimes increased by 7%, including a 20% increase in residential burglaries, 17% increase in grand thefts (generally thefts with a value of over $950) and 14% increase in other burglaries.

While the residential burglary rate did increase in 2016 vs 2015, it is still dramatically lower - 34% - than it was in 2014.

Let's look back a bit farther, to 2010. That year, there were 139 reported violent crimes and 2,036 reported property crimes in Thousand Oaks, for a total of 2,175 total reported crimes at a population of 124,000. That equates to 17.53 crimes per 1,000 residents. In 2016, there were 14.05 total reported Part I crimes per 1,000 residents. That is quite an improvement.

Getting back to 2016, the City of Moorpark crime rate among those served by the Ventura County Sheriff, at 9.26 Part I crimes per 1,000 residents. down from 10.31 in 2015.

More information at local.nixle.com/alert/5857520.

New Cell Phone Law Effective January 1, 2017 Requires Mounting of Phone For Car Use

The Camarillo Police Department’s Traffic Bureau reminds motorists that a new cell phone law takes effect on January 1, 2017. On the 1st, the existing cell phone law, California Vehicle Code 23123.5, is being repealed and a new cell phone law signed by Governor Brown in September 2016 (Assembly Bill 1785) is being put in its place.

California Vehicle Code 23123.5. now states:
(a) A person shall not drive a motor vehicle while holding and operating a handheld wireless telephone or an electronic wireless communications device unless the wireless telephone or electronic wireless communications device is specifically designed and configured to allow voice-operated and hands-free operation, and it is used in that manner while driving.

(b) This section shall not apply to manufacturer-installed systems that are embedded in the vehicle.

(c) A handheld wireless telephone or electronic wireless communications device may be operated in a manner requiring the use of the driver’s hand while the driver is operating the vehicle only if both of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) The handheld wireless telephone or electronic wireless communications device is mounted on a vehicle’s windshield in the same manner a portable Global Positioning System (GPS) is mounted pursuant to paragraph (12) of subdivision (b) of Section 26708 or is mounted on or affixed to a vehicle’s dashboard or center console in a manner that does not hinder the driver’s view of the road.

(2) The driver’s hand is used to activate or deactivate a feature or function of the handheld wireless telephone or wireless communications device with the motion of a single swipe or tap of the driver’s finger.

This new cell phone law means if drivers intend to use their cellphones while operating a motor vehicle, drivers must have their cell phones mounted to the dashboard, center console, or windshield and can only use a “feature” on the phone with a single swipe or tap of the driver’s finger.

A violation of this law is an infraction. The base fine for the first offense is $20 and $50 for each subsequent offense.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “The percentage of drivers text-messaging or visibly manipulating handheld devices increased from 1.7 percent in 2013 to 2.2 percent in 2015. Since 2007, young drivers (age 16 to 24) have been observed manipulating electronic devices at higher rates than older drivers. Data shows the average time your eyes are off the road while texting is five seconds. When traveling at 55mph, that's enough time to cover the length of a football field blindfolded.”

Thousand Oaks Violent Crime Rate Ranks in Top 12 Lowest Among Large Cities in 2015

In a separate post, we noted that the cities of Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley ranked 4th and 5th in terms of lowest overall crime rates in the United States and 1st and 2nd in California based on 2015 FBI data. Kudos!

Here, based on the same Uniform Crime Reporting data for 2015 released by the FBI in September, we will take a closer look at large cities (defined as 100,000+ residents) with the lowest and highest violent crime rates in he country.

Violent crimes consist of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault whereas property crimes are categorized as non-violent reported instances of burglaries, thefts (including cars) and arson.

Top 25 lowest overall violent crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015; cities with population of 100,000 or more (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data)

As you can see above, while the City of Thousand Oaks has the 12th lowest violent crime rate among large cities of 1.05 incidents per 1,000 residents, the City's property crime rate is lower than most on this list. Simi Valley's rate of 1.36 incidents per 1,000 ranks it 26th out of close to 300 large cities.

The city of Cary, North Carolina, ranked as lowest on this list with .5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents in 2015, followed closely by another local perennially safe city, Irvine. Glendale ranks a very respectable 7th on this list.

Top 25 highest overall violent crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015; cities with population of 100,000 or more (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data)

No Ventura County area cities came anywhere close to the top 25 highest violent crime rate large cities in the U.S. This list was topped by the cities of St. Louis, Detroit, Birmingham, Memphis and Milwaukee, with violent crime rates ranging from 16 to 18 incidents per 1,000 residents in 2015.

Our neighbor, the City of Los Angeles, with its population of nearly 4 million, ranked 92nd on the list with 6.35 violent crimes per 1,000 residents.

Was a crime committed in your neighborhood? Check the Ventura County Sheriff's Department online crime maps.

Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley Had the 4th and 5th Lowest Crime Rates Among Large Cities in 2015

In late September, the FBI released its annual Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data for 2015. "Crime in the United States, 2015" compiles crime data from law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The data includes violent crimes, consisting of murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, and property crimes such as burglaries and thefts.

The overall U.S. violent crime rate grew 3.1% in 2015 as compared to 2014, with 3.73 incidents per 1,000 inhabitants. Overall property crimes declined 3.4%, at 24.87 incidents per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015.

Three years ago, the crime rates were 3.87 (violent crimes) and 28.59 (property crimes), indicating the rates have declined overall over the last three years.

We took a look at the data for approximately 300 cities in the U.S. with populations of 100,000 or more. The cities of Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley ranked 4th and 5th in the U.S. and 1st and 2nd in California for the lowest overall crime rates among large cities in 2015. Congratulations! The top 10 are shown in the table below:

Top 10 lowest overall crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015; cities with population of 100,000 or more (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data)

The cities of Oxnard and Ventura landed at 143 and 153 when ranked by lowest total crime rates.

Taking a look at solely violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, assault), the list looks a bit different. Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley drop to 12th and 26th, respectively and other California cities - Irvine, Murrieta, Glendale and Temecula moved into the top 10.

Top 10 lowest violent crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015; cities with population of 100,000 or more (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data)

Let's take a look at other Ventura County cities of all sizes to see where they stand. Keep in mind that this does not include unincorporated communities of Ventura County like Oak Park, Casa Conejo, Lake Sherwood and others.

Overall crime rates per 1,000 inhabitants in Ventura County cities in 2015 (Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data) (excludes unincorporated communities)

The cities of Ojai and Moorpark held the lowest overall crime rates among Ventura County cities in 2015.

Overall, in 2015 Ventura County residents had an average of 22.84 total crimes for every 1,000 residents, including 2.56 violent crimes (31% below the national average) and 20.28 property crimes (18% below the national average).

As a comparison, the City of Los Angeles, with nearly 4 million residents, had an overall crime rate of 29.94 total crimes per 1,000 residents, including 6.3 violent crimes. The highest overall crime rates among large cities in 2015 were: Salt Lake City, UT (101.86 crimes per 1,000 inhabitants), Springfield, MO (91.51), St. Louis, MO (81.33), Birmingham, AL (81.05) and Spokane, WA (80.31).

Other nearby cities' 2015 crime rates in the UCR data includes Calabasas (11.71 crimes per 1,000 residents), Agoura Hills (15.5) and Westlake Village (the L.A. County side, with 8,522 residents) with 23.59.

Overall, there are nearly 9,400 cities measured in the UCR. Of these, 214 cities had a total of zero reported crimes in 2015. The average population of these 214 cities was 870.

* The FBI cautions comparative use of this data for drawing conclusions by making direct comparisons between cities. Comparisons lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. Keep this in mind when reviewing this data, which is summed up here for informational purposes only.

Ventura County Sheriff's Office Releases Crime Data For First Half of 2015

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office has released its six-month 2015 Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) statistics for "Part I" Crimes in all Sheriff’s jurisdictions. Overall, Part I Crimes are up 8%, specifically Violent Crime is up 30% and Property Crime is up 6% for the period January through June 2015.

Violent crime was up in all categories in the contract cities of Camarillo, Fillmore, Ojai and unincorporated areas. The city of Moorpark had no increase and Thousand Oaks had a decline.

The cities of Camarillo, Fillmore, and Moorpark saw significant increases in burglaries, both residential and commercial type. Additionally, all jurisdictions saw an increase in stolen vehicles, with the exception of Ojai.

The city of Ojai had significant declines in all property crimes with the exception of residential burglaries. Although the city of Thousand Oaks showed a decline in overall violent crimes, property crimes increased in the areas of grand/petty thefts and stolen vehicles. The unincorporated areas experienced increases in all violent and property crime categories with the exception of Grand Thefts.

The Sheriff’s jurisdictions are experiencing gang “crew” members from outside Ventura County coming in and committing residential burglaries and other thefts. Several of these crews committed “knock knock” burglaries and were apprehended after extensive investigations by investigators. Additionally, one person was arrested for approx. 8 robberies in Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and Los Angeles. Much of the increase in Aggravated Assaults was due to these robberies and Domestic Violence.

As a reminder, in January of 2014, the definition for Rape changed and the UCR Program started collecting uniform information from law enforcement agencies with the new definition which broadened the scope of the previously narrow definition. For more information about this change, visit www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/new-rape-fact-sheet.

This new definition redistributed currently captured crime information from the category Part II “Sex Offenses” to the category Part I “Rape.” As predicted, this category in Part 1 showed a significant increase.

Although the Sheriff’s Office has recorded an increase in Part 1 crimes for the first six months, Ventura County is still a very safe area to live in. From 2010 to 2014, total Part 1 crimes for Sheriff’s jurisdictions have dropped almost 4%, a total of 1,291 less crimes. During the same time period, the crime rate per 1000 population went from 16.61 to 12.56. Listed below are the crime rates per 1000 for each of the Sheriff’s jurisdictions for the past five years:

As to Proposition 47's consequences, both intended and unintended, they are only beginning to be evaluated. Early indications show that it has not reduced jail populations and has put offenders back out on the streets sooner without the requirement of being on probation or attending substance abuse classes. Sheriff Dean is coordinating on a statewide level through the California State Sheriff’s Association on the identification, retention and collection of Proposition 47 related data and the results will be distributed.

The Sheriff's Office encourages people to actively report suspicious and/or criminal activity immediately by calling 9-1-1. Non-emergency reports can be made through the Sheriff’s Communication Center at (805) 654-9511.

Source: local.nixle.com/alert/5484889