Sheriff’s department sees property crime decrease in 2015
Published 10:53 am Tuesday, July 7, 2015
For the first half of 2015, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office’s call volume has remained steady, according to Sheriff Steve Rushing.
The sheriff’s office received 4,538 calls from January through June, with a majority of those being general complaints. In all of 2014, the department reported 8,502 calls. Unlike 2014, the office has received one call associated with murder, that of 31-year-old Timothy Green
Other calls related to violent crimes included four calls for aggravated assault, 26 calls for simple assault, five calls regarding sexual assault, seven calls about fights and four reports of child abuse.
Since the beginning of the year, the office has received two arson calls, nine calls regarding missing persons/runaways, 62 calls for vandalism, 38 calls about prowlers, 15 calls about trespassing and 29 calls regarding telephone harassment.
Reports from the department listed 56 calls regarding thefts, 51 calls about burglary, six reports of vehicle burglaries, three shoplifting calls, two robbery calls and one stolen vehicle.
“Some of the property crimes have gone down,” Rushing said, in comparison to last year. However he sees a possible heightening in those numbers as the year progresses. “They picked back up this past weekend.”
He highlights the group that resulted in a string of nighttime business thefts in the summer of 2014 as reference. Rushing said his department is still going back to close some of those cases. While doing so, he said they are also working on a few thefts that took place over Independence Day weekend.
“They know a lot of people are not home,” Rushing said about why theft and other property crimes rise around late summer. “That’s when we get most our daytime crimes.”
He said that four different thefts happened Sunday around 4 p.m. He said he and other officers have been out working most of Sunday night and Monday tracking leads in two thefts from Bogue Chitto, one from West Lincoln and one from Loyd Star.
“We really try to encourage everyone to not let their guard down,” Rushing said. “I encourage everyone that if they see anything out of the way to call.”