OC Sheriff’s Office invites community to TELL Kobie about Litter

Sheriff Crenshaw - TELL Kobie PC (1)During a press conference at the Law Enforcement Center on May 4, Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw announced a new litter initiative in partnership with the Keep Oconee Beautiful Association. The Sheriff’s Office distributed business cards to the media during the press conference that features the Keep Oconee Beautiful Association mascot Kobie and the words that explains the new initiative T.E.L.L. Kobie, with the words T.E.L.L. standing for “Together Eliminate Litter Locations.” “With this new app, citizens can report these activities via their smartphone or computer,” says Sheriff Crenshaw. “We have gone so far to have some cards made up. Citizens can go to this app using the QR code on the cards or on their computer and give us a location and a description of what is there and the report will go to our Environmental Services Officer, Corporal Brandon Meadows. With this report, Corporal Meadows can then go out with inmate labor and pick up the litter and trash in this location.” Citizens can go to the Sheriff’s Office website at www.oconeelaw.com and click on the Report Litter link. From there, citizens can fill out a short form to report sites in the county where illegal dumping is going on or other locations where litter is a problem. Those citizens reporting this information will remain anonymous and all information given is confidential and for law enforcement eyes only. By scanning the QR code via a smartphone, the code will automatically take someone to the website. The website was designed by the Sheriff’s Office at no cost to taxpayers. There is also a link on the Sheriff’s oconeelaw.com website that will take someone to the litter-reporting page. According to Sheriff Crenshaw, the idea of T.E.L.L. Kobie was something that he has been thinking about for a while as something that could better help identify littering locations, especially for those who are traveling down the highways and roads in the county. Sheriff Crenshaw recommends that individuals pull off the roadway to a safe location before sending the report and not to file a report while driving. In addition, the Sheriff’s Office is asking citizens to provide as much information as they can and to try to be specific as possible when providing the location and the type of trash or litter at that location. Also as part of the continued litter initiative, inmate labor will continue to be used as it has been over the past couple of years and with this new tool, Sheriff Crenshaw stated that inmate labor for picking up litter can be extended into the winter months. Sheriff Crenshaw anticipates that turn around between a litter report being filed and pickup time should be around one week but may take longer depending on the call volume. “Litter is one of those problems where it takes the whole community working together to clean up and this initiative is one of those ways in which we work together to achieve that,” says the Sheriff. “I do believe that problems with litter can lead to other crimes or could convince suspects that those areas could be easier targets for crime so we all have a stake in seeing the litter problem eradicated in Oconee County.” The business cards are available for pick-up at the Law Enforcement Center at 300 South Church Street during normal business hours, 8:30am until 4:30pm, Monday – Friday or from deputies from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office.