The First TOPD
Where's the story?5 Points Mentioned
A chat with a few of city’s first deputies
Los Angeles residents who had escaped six days of violent civil unrest in their city sat along the full length of Thousand Oaks Boulevard in July 1965.
The timing tested the young Thousand Oaks Police Department: At midnight on July 1, 1965, nine months after the City of Thousand Oaks was incorporated, the Highway Patrol transferred its duties in the city to the TOPD.
“Little did we know we would inherit the Watts Riot,” said Dennis Gillette, among the 10 deputies and two sergeants who formed the inaugural police department.
“I pulled over a car one night, midnight, speeding down the 101,” Gillette said. “All four doors opened at once and four young men jumped out and started running back toward my patrol car. We had a deciding moment right then.”
Gillette said the men were scared and wanted to tell him they were good guys.
“(They were) four youth out of the central city running toward (my) patrol car when there’s a full-blown riot going on right over the hill,” he said. “I, in the most authoritative voice I could muster, got them to stop and then they talked. They were trying times. But that stands out. I remember that so vividly.”
The surviving officers from that time remember a peaceful city.
The first police station in the city opened in a tiny room at the back of the fire station on Avenida de Los Arboles in 1961, then moved to a house across the street about two years later before finding a permanent spot on Olsen Road.
Officers went to work wearing ties and Stetson hats.
“Municipal policing at that time was a relatively new concept,” Gillette said. “The city of Lakewood inLos Angeles County was the genesis of contract law enforcement for municipal policing, and we followed suit.”
MEN IN BLUE—Dennis Gillette, Jim Koontz and George Conahey reminisce about their days working for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department in Thousand Oaks during the 1960s. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn NewspapersOf the original police force, Gillette knows of three surviving members: Jim Koontz, George Conahey and Bill Frick, who left the sheriff’s department to join the Highway Patrol and moved out of the Conejo Valley.
The small group laid the groundwork for a strong department, said Gillette, a former mayor and police chief of Thousand Oaks who moved to Spokane, Wash., last year to be closer to a daughter and his grandchildren.
“Thousand Oaks Liquor was a place where you could pull in, get a soda, use the restroom and use the telephone,” he said. “It wasn’t uncommon to see a sheriff’s unit behind the store, and you could also go in there and just listen. You talked to interesting folks in the community that knew what was going on. We had exceptional rapport with the community. We had great rapport with the young people.”
Early years
In his early years in the department, Koontz went to school during the day and patrolled the streets at night, stopping crimes in progress.
“You were proud to find a burglary before a call came in for the burglary,” Koontz said.
“Businesses didn’t report it until morning. (But) most of what we responded to had already happened. At the time we were the only law enforcement around. We got the first call,” he said.
Gillette said that the “scariest and worst of all” were calls related to domestic disturbances and suicides. He remembered responding to a report that a 4-year-old girl had fallen from the second story of a house on Gainsborough Road.
“She wasn’t breathing,” he said. “The mother was cradling the little girl. I managed to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation very carefully because she was so small and got her breathing.”
Conahey once answered a call reporting a father fighting with his teenage son.
“I took the kid down,” Conahey said. “He was a well-known little jerk. I had him on the floor, and he bit me on the leg.”
The officers made sacrifices. Officers worked long hours when duties were shared among few people.
Koontz recalled occasional daylong shifts.
“I’d get called out on holidays and weekends. I’d be gone for almost 24 hours without even talking to my family when there weren’t as many officers as there are now,” Koontz said.
Officers adopted a strict work ethic, Gillette said.
“If you picked up a case and your shift ended, it didn’t end,” he said. “You turned your city patrol car over to somebody, but you’d keep working. That’s the way it was done then.”
Officers also had to endure patrol cars without air conditioning.
“We drove around in the heat,” Gillette said. “George Conahey was sitting outside City Hall one day perspiring in the 100-degree temperature. Glenn Kendall, the city manager, said, ‘Why don’t you roll your windows up and turn the air on?’ And George told him they didn’t have any air. That was immediately his task to make sure that the cars the city bought would have air conditioning.”
Low crime rate
The city had a low crime rate then as it does now. Burglaries and thefts were the most common crimes.
“All the years I worked out here that was one of the things you took pride in, the low crime rate. The people in the community probably get the most credit for that,” Koontz said.
Gillette also credited the residents with helping to create a safe city.
“We had exceptional cooperation from the community,” he said. “The community has always insisted on a strong, law-abiding, honest community. They’ve insisted on personnel that would respond to them and provide exceptional service.”
Koontz said he was proud of his work and of the sheriff’s department.
“When you went to other places people were so envious of us, both the department and the way it was run,” Koontz said.
Gillette said that being a member of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department “was always a point of significant pride.”
“Wherever you went, it had an exceptional reputation for integrity, honesty, service,” Gillette said. “We were blessed with very knowledgeable, very confident sheriffs that insisted on that kind of service, quality and officers. That’s still the case today.”
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A whole new ride
Where's the story?5 Points Mentioned
Organizers expect carnival attractions to be a big draw
BIG WHEEL—A 100-foot-tall Ferris wheel, reportedly one of the largest traveling wheels west of the Mississippi, will callConejo Creek Park home for four days during Conejo Valley Days. The annual celebration of the community’s western heritage runs May 8 to 11. For more information, visit www.conejovalleydays.us.Courtesy of Ray Cammack ShowsConejo Valley Days enthusiasts have spoken, and they’re getting what they’ve been asking for, said CVD president Frank Akrey: better carnival rides.
Visitors to this year’s CVD, May 8 to 11 at Conejo Creek Park, will be greeted with the “biggest, best carnival on the planet,” according to Akrey, who’s in his fourth year of revitalizing the long-running tribute to the city’s western heritage.
Carnival operator Ray Cammack Shows, fresh off of working the Coachella Music Festival in April, will bring a 100-foot-tall Ferris wheel, the largest west of the Mississippi, along with scores of other exciting rides to get the blood pumping, Akrey said.
WESTERN WEAR—Reeds Furniture’s president Dru Jeppe will serve as grand marshal of the 58th annualConejo Valley Days. Jeppe and her family, owners of Reeds, have been longtime participants and supporters of the festival. For the third year, Reeds is sponsoring a Home Emporium at CVD. The emporium will befilled with home furnishings and indoor and outdoor products.“The rides we’ve got this coming this year are the biggest rides in the state,” he said, “the biggest rides ever for CVD.”
But the rides aren’t the only elements that will be bigger at the 58th installment of Conejo Valley Days.
The event itself—started nearly six decades ago by a group of friends and neighbors who wanted a way to promote community spirit and raise money for local charities—will be three times as large as last year, with more nonprofits participating than ever before, Akrey said.
More than two dozen charities will participate, all with the opportunity to earn money for their cause.
Some will have food booths while others will help collect entry fees, pick up trash and direct parking, said Mary-Catherine McBride, CVD general manager.
“When you give that $5 for parking, remember that the young person taking it is earning money for his school team or church youth group,” McBride said.
Four days of fun
Entertainment at Conejo Valley Days will include musical acts—including Foo Fighter guitarist Chris Shiflett performing with his band Dead Peasants on May 9—animal shows and performances by local dance companies.
One of the fair’s most popular new elements is the nightly freestyle motocross displays.
This year, professional riders Vince Morgan and Brian McCarty will show off amazing aerial stunts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday during CVD.
Also back for 2014: outhouse races.
“Outhouse races are back and they’re huge,” Akrey said. “We’ve got more people in on that than I can tell you.”
The races—in which teams are challenged to create an outdoor latrine and then push it down a 200-foot-long stretch of grass (points are awarded for design and speed)—are a nod to the area’s western past, said Akrey, a nearly 50-year resident of Thousand Oaks. The races will take place at 4 p.m. May 10.
He said CVD was started as a chance for ranchers to get together after shearing sheep and taking care of all the other springtime activities and chores.
Attendees and volunteers show up in boots and bandannas to this day, but like the city itself, the event has grown away from its roots.
Gone are the Thousand Oaks Boulevard parade and rodeo as well as other western touches.
“We still dress western. We still try to bring a western feeling to it, but Conejo Valley doesn’t have the same western culture it used to, and CVD reflects that,” McBride said.
One example: the Marty’s Hobbies store in Thousand Oaks is bringing drones with cameras to fly over the carnival crowd. Those interested will be able to watch the footage online and at Marty’s booth.
Hoping for a rebound
After a disappointing 2013— marred by the outbreak of the destructive Springs fire—Conejo Valley Days organizers hope residents will take note of all the improvements and show up in greater numbers this year.
Ticket prices, in spite of all the additional attractions, remain the same: $10 for adults, $5 for children 6 to 12, and free for children younger than 6.
“The largest attendance we’ve had was about 52,000; we’ve been running at about 25,000,” said Akrey, who purchased CVD in 2012 when it was on the brink of bankruptcy, paying off thousands of dollars in debt the previous ownership had accumulated.
“Last year we got burned out,” he said, referring to the Springs fire, which scorched parts of the Conejo Valley toward the ocean and spewed ash and smoke into the air, reducing air quality throughout the valley.
“There was an alert out for people to stay inside (on the first day), and we still got 16,000 (in attendance),” he said, adding that the event, even with last year’s low turnout, remains debt-free.
Conejo Valley Days begins next week at Conejo Creek Park South at 1300 E. Janss Road, near the 23 Freeway. Event hours are 5 to 10 p.m. Thurs., May 8; 5 p.m. to midnight Fri., May 9; noon to midnight Sat., May 10; and noon to 8 p.m. Sun., May 11.
Parking is $5.
Admission includes access to entertainment, exhibitions and all attractions other than carnival rides. Individual tickets for the rides are 50 cents, but the number of tickets required per ride varies. Unlimited-ride wristbands will be available Thursday and Sunday only for $30.
Conejo Valley Days tickets will be available online beginning this weekend, according to McBride. Tickets will also be available at the event.
For more information about Conejo Valley Days, visit www.conejovalleydays.us or follow it on Facebook atwww.Facebook.com/ConejoValleyDays.
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