Officer to Head State Arson Investigators

Insurance, vanity and anger are among the reasons people set fires, said Ventura Police Cpl. Jeanne Boger, who was recently elected to head a statewide association of arson investigators.

Boger, the first woman president of the California Conference of Arson Investigators in its 42-year history, has worked as a fire investigator for nine years.

She has sifted through ash and debris to solve a bevy of cases involving everything from homeless firebugs to professional fire-starters who light up buildings as part of insurance scams.

“I’ve seen all kinds of cases,” said Boger, 50, who has been with the Ventura Police Department since 1968.

Boger recently became head of the department’s crime analysis unit, but she will serve as president of the 1,100-member California Conference of Arson Investigators until next July. The group represents arson investigators working with fire departments, police departments and the insurance industry.

Boger said she hopes to work as a private arson investigator when she retires. The Police Department veteran has worked in dispatch, forgery, records, patrol and burglary, but said she has enjoyed her work as an arson investigator the most.

She has had a case where an angry neighbor burned down a halfway house for recovering addicts that was to open next to his home, and she has had cases where firebugs light fires just for the thrill of seeing the engines arrive to fight the blaze.

Many cases are solved because of the behavior of arsonists, who often remain on scene or are the first to report fires.

Many arsonists started when they were very young and can be connected to many fires, said Boger, who is most interested in juvenile fire prevention.

“That’s when many of these guys get started, and that’s when they need to be stopped, “ she said.