As thefts rise, police ask residents to do their part to prevent crime

Local law enforcement wants Beaufort-area residents to protect themselves as property crimes in area municipalities continue to rise.

In the city of Beaufort, non-violent crimes including auto theft, larceny, and breaking and entering, have increased by about 9 percent since 2004, according to the Beaufort Police Department's crime index.

With more than 280 cases of larceny already on the books in the first half of 2008, Beaufort Police Chief Jeff Dowling said it's tough to predict what the rest of the year will hold, but that residents need to take steps to protect themselves against crimes of opportunity.

"It's sad to say, but it is 2008 and we live in a different time now, and people have got to start locking things up," he said. "Of the stolen cars that we have reported in the city, about half of them were stolen with the keys in them. We don't have too many cases of hot wiring here."

Dowling said he doesn't think current economic conditions have much to do with increasing property crimes in the city.

"If you look at our unemployment rates here in Beaufort County, it's still pretty low and if you look at the job market, there is still work, but you'll always have people that would rather steal things than work," he said.

Dowling added that the police department has received a few complaints about gas being siphoned from parked cars, but nothing indicative of a trend.

"You're bound to have some of that when gas is $4 a gallon but it seems like a lot of work," he said. "If you siphon five gallons of gas, you've made what, 20 bucks? And last I checked, pawn shops don't take gasoline."

In the unincorporated parts of the county, annual non-violent crime subtotals have been on the decline in the last three years, but Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said that figure has more to dowith the county's shrinking size than with decreasing crime, as a whole.

"Where our numbers are decreasing, the numbers in Beaufort and Bluffton are increasing," he said.

Since 2005, the Sheriff's Office has seen the number of reported property crimes drop about 8 percent, according to statistics from the Sheriff's Office.

If mid-year numbers are any indication, the county could see its first increase in property crimes in two years at the end of 2008.

Tanner said the Sheriff's Office has already responded to 962 cases of property crime in the first half of 2008, a dramatic increase from the 788 cases reported during the same time period in 2007.

Rather than being fueled by high gas prices or other economic pressures, Tanner said there's a seasonal trend to the increase in property crimes committed in the county.

"The second and third quarters are always the highest for us," he said. "We generally have more people here from May to September and during that period, accidents increase, larcenies increase, violence tends to increase in the summer, so it is seasonal to a degree."

Whether area crimes rates are rising or falling, Tanner said residents should always do what they can to prevent crimes of opportunities by locking their homes and vehicles, and not leaving valuable items in plain view.

Victims of property crimes can sometimes get their property back if they keep a record of the serial numbers, he said. The numbers make it easier for investigators to track stolen items that have been re-sold.