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Property crimes rise in Midlands
September 23, 2008
Falling economy leads to increase in home, car break-insThe falling economy is contributing to a significant rise in property crime in the Midlands, law enforcement officials say.
Reports of burglaries and larcenies are up across the area this year compared to the same period in 2007. They said thefts generally increase in times of rising unemployment or inflation.
"As the economy goes down, we've seen an increase in crime," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott. said. "We've got multiple groups of people here breaking into houses in the daytime and businesses and cars at night."
Overall, burglaries and larcenies are up 15 percent in Richland County; 7 percent in Lexington County; and 13 percent in Columbia.
A rash of daylight home burglaries in Columbia’s Rosewood Drive area had residents jittery over the summer.
Earlier this month, after a series of vehicle break-ins, Columbia police urged motorists not to leave electronics, money and other valuables in plain sight in a parked car.
And on Aug. 9, a Northeast Richland man was charged with buying cameras, TVs, computers, and other items stolen from homes and cars in Richland and Lexington counties and then selling them on eBay, authorities said. When police searched his home, they said they found items from auto break-ins and burglaries in Columbia, West Columbia, Chapin and Lexington.
From Jan. 1 through Aug. 31, Richland County sheriff’s deputies investigated 1,509 home and business burglaries, a 27 percent increase over the first eight months of last year, department records show.
Thefts from vehicles rose 25 percent, while other types of larcenies increased about 3.5 percent.
All areas of the county recorded increases in burglaries and larcenies, with jumps ranging from 4 percent on the county’s north side to 22 percent on the county’s south side.
In Lexington County, department records show an 11 percent increase of burglaries and thefts over last year on the county's north side.
On the county’s west side, property crimes rose about 8 percent from last year, while in the south, property crimes dropped by 8 percent.
Sheriff James R. Metts also attributed the overall increase to the souring economy and two other factors: the availability of portable electronic items, such as laptop computers and GPS navigation systems, and an increasing population, particularly on the county's west side.
"I think it's going to get worse," Metts said. "We're doing a lot of crime watch programs right now."
Auto break-ins throughout the county jumped 23 percent; home and business burglaries increased 5 percent; and motor vehicle thefts and other larcenies rose 2 percent.
"A lot of ours are car break-ins and copper thefts," Metts said.
He said he also has noticed in recent months more reports of people siphoning gas from other people's vehicles.
In Columbia, police are dealing with a rash of car burglaries primarily in downtown and Five Points. They attribute the rise to opportunity.
Through Aug. 31, 1,448 auto break-ins had been reported - a 29 percent jump from the previous year, records show.
In the downtown office and commercial district bounded by Elmwood Avenue, Gervais Street, Assembly Street and Sumter Street, there were more than 100 reported auto break-ins through August - a jump of nearly 70 percent over last year.
"In times past, people would break into cars to rip out the radios," said Capt. Thomas Dodson, who heads the department’s investigative division. "Now, we're seeing more portable electronic items stolen."
Dodson said the large number of people working in the city, going to USC or attending football games at Williams-Brice Stadium gives criminals plenty of opportunity to target vehicles.
Business and home burglaries in the city jumped 19 and 6.5 percent, respectively, through August compared to the same period last year, while all other larcenies rose about 8 percent, records show.
The department's South, Metro, and West regions saw increases of 16 percent to 28 percent in burglaries and larcenies, while the North Region saw an overall decrease of about 5 percent in those crimes, records show.
The State
By RICK BRUNDRETT
rbrundrett@thestate.com
Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484.