Sheriff Crenshaw Releases 2020 Summary

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office offers the following report to the citizens of our county concerning crime and law enforcement activities for 2020.

Sheriff Crenshaw includes the following accomplishments that were realized by the dedicated men and women at the Sheriff’s Office working in partnership with the citizens of Oconee County and other law enforcement agencies:

• Three Drug Sweep Round-Ups were conducted during the year.
• The 7th Annual Citizens Police Academy graduated in November.
• The Sheriff’s Office continued its social media presence on Twitter, Instagram, and You Tube.
• The Sheriff’s Office collected 265 pounds of prescription pills as part of our takeback program. We hosted four separate Pill Take Back Days to help dispose of over the counter medications, vitamins and prescription medication in pill or liquid form.
• The 6th Annual Boys Leadership Camp graduated in June at the Law Enforcement Center. The students learned about leadership and did numerous team building skills and activities.
• The 2nd girl’s empowerment camp graduated in June. The students learned about character and confidence. They also participated in numerous team building skills and activities.
• From October 12TH through December 31ST, the Sheriff’s office participated in Beards for Leadership Development. The money that was collected went to The Sheriff’s Foundation Scholarship Fund to further educational opportunities for our officers.
• The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office announced a partnership with Upstate Warrior Solution in order for deputies to further assist any veteran of the military.
• The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office and Oconee Addiction Recovery and Solutions, in partnership with Oconee County government announced grants awarded to help Oconee County citizens who are suffering from drug addiction and those at the Oconee County Detention Center in regards to mental health care.
• The Sheriff’s Office announced the hiring of a Cultural Diversity Director for the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office.
• The Sheriff’s Office sponsored a unity walk to build better relationships with citizens.
• Oconee County Sheriff’s Office created a key holder contact program for law enforcement to be able to contact businesses and churches after hours in case of emergencies.
• The Sheriff’s Office started an at risk medication delivery program for senior citizens due to the pandemic.
• Oconee Sheriff’s Foundation and Crimestoppers of Oconee County received grant awards provided to non-profits.

Emergency Communications/E-911 Division

In 2020, 100,647 calls for service were processed.

The total amount of telephone calls into the 911 Center was 179,805. There were 43,210 Emergency 911 calls and 136,595 non-emergency calls. Our 911 center receives calls for fire/rescue, EMS, four local police departments, and the Sheriff’s Office. Oconee County dispatch continues to exceed the requirements of the national standards based on NENA and NFPA requirements for 911 calls answered within ten and twenty seconds. Dispatchers spent a total of 5,714 hours on the telephone in 2020 and employees had around 452 total training hours during the year. 88% of all 911 calls were from wireless devices.

Special Operations Division

The Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit made 194 drug related cases in 2020. These cases included some large scale illegal drug operations. The value of drugs seized equaled $3,232,241. Methamphetamines accounted for the most prevalent drug for the 8th year in a row. 36 of the cases made in 2020 were related to heroin while 13 of the cases were related to prescription medication. There was no meth labs dismantled during 2020.

The Warrant Unit served 1,156 warrants on 591 individuals. The courthouse unit provided security for judicial proceedings in courts that included 49 days of General Sessions, 150 days of Family Court, 30 days of Common Pleas Court, 10 days of Preliminary Hearings, 13 days of DSS/Court Rule proceedings, and 11 days of Grand Jury proceedings. The Family Court deputy served 386 papers. 23,053 individuals were scanned through the metal detectors coming into the courthouse. 295 defendants were transported from jail to court while 22 trips were made to out of county facilities to transport detained juveniles to and from court.

The Marine Unit conducted 236 vessel safety checks and make contact with 2338 individuals on or along the lakes. This unit worked 1 special event on the lakes in our county. They made 29 alcohol related cases and issued 368 citations.

The SWAT team had 8 activations that included high risk drug warrants and assisting other agencies. Training continued on a monthly basis that collectively amounted to more than 93 hours in order to be prepared in the event of an emergent situation.

A specialized proactive enforcement team conducted 1,269 vehicle stops which resulted in 915 citations, 87 drug cases and 26 fugitive arrests.

The Aviation Unit had 22 flights with the helicopter which included 8 law enforcement missions along with 14 training missions. There were no community service missions. The Unmanned Aerial System aka Drone had 11 missions for the year.

Environmental Services received 590 litter complaints. The Unit made 45 charges for litter violations. The Sheriff’s Inmate work crew picked up 78,153 lbs. of litter along the county’s roadways.

The LEAD (Leadership, Education and Development) Unit plays a vital role and conducted or coordinated 11,146 hours of training for our agency. This includes mandated in-service classes along with advanced and basic academy classes.

The Civil Unit served 2,166 papers in 2020 which included 223 evictions/foreclosures.

The K-9 Unit consists of one Dutch Shepherd, a Belgian Malinois and a Labrador Retriever. This unit trained for a combined 397.5 hours and assisted with vehicle searches, explosive searches, and missing persons. This unit conducted 18 vehicle searches.

The Community Services Unit provided approximately 25 presentations this year.

Uniform Patrol Division

There were 1,276 individuals arrested by the Uniform Patrol Division.

This division wrote a total of 5,261 reports up from 4,874 reports in 2019, marking an 8-year high in incident reports since 2013. This resulted in an average of 150.31 reports per officer in 2020. The Sheriff’s Office as a whole wrote 5,890 reports for the year, also an increase up from 5,628 in 2019. In Sheriff Crenshaw’s first year in office, the department as a whole complied 4,847 incident reports – over his tenure of two terms, that workload has increased by 1,043 reports, or 21.5%.

The division has three reserve deputies that are mandated to volunteer 20 hours each per month during the year to assist with law enforcement activities. They worked 960 hours during the year saving the taxpayers approximately $23,520 based on the cost per hour for a full-time deputy and including overtime.

There were 23 uses of force department wide during 2020. Based on 1,276 arrests being made, patrol deputies had to use force on 1.8% of those arrested; two deputies received minor scrapes and bruises during these encounters, while two deputies suffered significant injuries, one to the back and to a knee, resulting in several months of lost work. Both deputies have returned to work at this time. There were minor cuts and abrasions on two suspects, none of which required further medical treatment, and six others were treated and released at the emergency room before transport to the detention center (not all relating to use of force – e.g. suicidal ideations). Statistically, just under 35% of suspects that had force used on them had minor injuries, none requiring admission to a medical facility. Out of 1,276 arrests made less than 0.62% (less than two thirds of one percent) had visible injuries as a result of a use of force. There were no incidents of deputies using of deadly force in 2020.

The Sheriff’s Office department-wide wrote 1,889 warning tickets in 2020 and 2,634 uniform traffic citations. This resulted from a total of 3,593 traffic stops, plus other tickets for criminal offenses such as shoplifting, PDC, Trespassing, etc. The following is a breakdown of the ethnicity for males and females over the past six years:

2015 – Female – 21 Hispanic, 59 African American, 465 Caucasian, 4 Other
Male – 67 Hispanic, 146 African American, 971 Caucasian, 16 Other

2016 – Female – 21 Hispanic, 24 African American, 337 Caucasian, 12 Other
Male – 67 Hispanic, 70 African American, 781 Caucasian, 32 Other

2017 – Female – 20 Hispanic, 100 African American, 566 Caucasian, 8 Other
Male – 45 Hispanic, 172 African American, 1,178 Caucasian, 17 Other

2018 – Female – 20 Hispanic, 62 African American, 549 Caucasian, 37 Other
Male – 71 Hispanic, 151 African American, 1,229 Caucasian, 58 Other

2019 – Female – 33 Hispanic, 126 African American, 1,056 Caucasian, 3 Other
Male – 116 Hispanic, 265 African American, 2,056 Caucasian, 8 Other

2020 – Female – 49 Hispanic, 69 African American, 904 Caucasian, 3 Other
Male – 186 Hispanic, 205 African American, 2067 Caucasian, 9 Other
101 records sealed or expunged by court order.

The Sheriff’s Office was involved in 42 vehicle pursuits in 2020 across all divisions. Of those 42, we were able to apprehend the suspect at the end of the pursuit on 24 of those pursuits, or 57%. 7 suspects were identified and later arrested on a warrant, and 11 suspects eluded arrest, for a 74% capture rate on pursuits. 11 of the suspect vehicles pursued ended in a collision in 2020, mostly vehicles losing control and going in a ditch or through a fence. There were zero (0) civilian injuries, and only three (3) suspect injuries in all 42 pursuits, all minor, one being a cut received to his back from glass not resulting in stitches, one scraped knee, and one suspect who had injured ribs and abdomen and was treated and released from the ER. There were zero (0) deputies injured during any pursuits.

Most of the vehicles and drivers that eluded arrest were motorcycles, with the pursuits being terminated by either the officer or supervisor. A couple of factors may have contributed to the dramatic increase in the number of pursuits this year. A high percentage of individuals either Uniform Patrol or CID officers identified as wanted felons or having other warrants were attempted to be apprehended on traffic stops. Also, a high number of individuals suspected of moving narcotics on motorcycles were more inclined to flee. Lastly, a more proactive approach from all units within the department shown by an increase in citations and warnings issued somewhat inversely increased the likelihood of attempting a traffic stop on a suspect willing to flee. Without direct interviews with each suspect, it would be difficult to infer any further reasons for the increase, but upon review it appears the deputies of OCSO performed courageously and with an abundance of caution for the number of pursuits performed.

The Uniformed Patrol Division made 174 narcotics cases for the year 2020, with a street value of $116,589.00. This is an increase of 51 cases from 2019. The patrol deputies seized approximately 362 grams of meth, 1,944 grams (4.34 pounds) of marijuana, 12 grams of heroin, 22 grams of crack, 325 schedule 1-4 pills, as well as smaller quantities of LSD and ecstasy.

Community Services/Criminal Investigation Division 2020

Criminal Investigations was assigned 1,297 cases in 2020. 1,025 of those cases have been closed at this point. Investigators signed 826 warrants on 329 defendants while executing 158 search warrants. The forensic evidence unit processed 148 crime scenes while taking in 1,178 items for evidence.

2,521 cases were assigned to the Victim Services Unit, which includes providing victim services to the cities of Westminster, Walhalla, West Union, and Salem. The Victim Advocates attended court with the victims of crimes 268 times. The Victim Advocates assisted victims with 36 orders of protection being issued. 2 victims of domestic violence were transported to Safe Harbor during the year.
*Note—Safe Harbor was closed due to COVID from March until recently.

The School Resource Officers assisted with traffic control, security checks, and classroom visits. 93 classes were taught on topics including sexting, bullying, drug prevention, and making good decisions. They conducted 384 student conferences and 179 parent conferences with 402 home visits. There were 6 juvenile referrals to DJJ and 62 citations written for tobacco or vaping. The SRO’s collectively worked 224 school and sporting events.

Animal Control took in 3,366 animals in 2020, with 1,035 animals adopted. There were 898 transferred to no kill rescues, 287 animals returned to their owner, and 1,114 were euthanized. Our shelter took in 1,466 dogs and 1,848 cats. Overall, Animal Control received 2,207 calls for service. There were 83 citations issued and 157 warning tickets. Statistically, 33% of all animals taken in were euthanized while 67% were saved through adoption, transfer to a rescue, or returned to their owner.

Oconee County currently has 190 registered sex offenders. There were 6 warrants signed in 2020 regarding sex offender registry violations. The deputy assigned to this unit verified addresses and conducted registrations for all offenders living in Oconee County.

Oconee County Detention Center 2020

Due to COVID 19, the Oconee County Detention Center had a decrease in numbers compared to years past. The average daily population at the Detention Center for 2020 was 158 compared to 2019 where the average daily population was 190.

The total number of bookings (arrestees processed) decreased from 3,448 in 2019 to 2,900 in 2020.

The Detention Center averaged 139 males per day along with 20 females based on the average daily population.

There was an average of 139 pre-trial inmates per day compared to 19 sentenced inmates per day based on the average daily population.

SUMMARY

The Sheriff’s Office continues to promote community oriented policing principles of establishing relationships with our citizens and building partnerships to make our county a safer place. We strive to maintain a spirit of transparency. We continue to work hard to earn the trust of the public we serve.