Property crime a growing issue in Brunswick County

Property crime is a growing issue for law enforcement in Brunswick County.

Officials say the driving forces behind the problem are our struggling economy, and an increasing drug problem.

Law enforcement officials are being proactive, in hopes of curbing the number of reports of break-ins, thefts and vandalism in Brunswick County.

Employees at an Exxon gas station in Holden Beach said they are fed up with break-ins. “They came into the store and they went to the office. Busted the office door, went through the stuff up there, and found about a thousand dollars and got away with that,” said Exxon cashier, Chantile Eller. Another attempt by thieves was unsuccessful. Detectives have not been able to solve either crime, or many other happenings in the area.

“That is one crime that is common throughout our county,” said Brunswick County Sheriff, John Ingram.

Sheriff Ingram said property crimes have been a major problem for law enforcement for some time. He said a number of factors play into the problem. He said vacant homes can entice looters, as well as drug related activity.

“We believe that a lot of the property crimes are directly related to the drug trade and that is another area we are focusing our efforts,” said Ingram.

The Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office is teaming up with all the local police departments in the county to form an investigative task force. Updated crime information is loaded into a data base to highlight high risk areas so each department can share information on where to step up police presence.

Ingram said, “We hope that our efforts can prevent it from spiking and hopefully reduce it overall.”

Sheriff Ingram would not say exactly which neighborhoods are being targeted by criminals, and now law enforcement. The new task force splits up the county into three sections, north, middle, and south to eliminate jurisdiction issues.