Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reports property crimes trending down

By LEAH INGRAM EAGLE

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office saw a decrease in burglary, felony theft and unlawful breaking and entering of a vehicle incidents in 2022 when compared to their seven-year averages.

Sheriff John Samaniego said the positive results are from the hard work of the men and women at the sheriff’s office.

“I’m very proud of these men and women for the job they do every day,” he said.

The numbers have been trending down over the past decade and Samaniego said the downturn has been significant.

Chief Deputy Clay Hammac said this decrease is also due to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office’s partnership with the community. Through speaking to homeowner’s associations on how they can be more vigilant in helping with the fight against property crimes, and utilizing campaigns through social media and other platforms, they encourage residents to be more vigilant and report things they see that are out of the ordinary.

“One of more significant property crimes we’ve faced over the last 10 years are car burglaries and unlawful breaking and entering of vehicles,” Hammac said. “That’s so significant to us because many of those are not forced entry. They are looking for unlocked cars and easy targets. Lots of folks have firearms in their vehicles, and when they leave it unsecured in a vehicle, it ends up in the hands of a criminal.”

Another reason for the decline is thanks to Crime Intelligence Analyst Anna Shinbaum. She is a civilian employee with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office who works at the Metro Area Crime Center using historical crime trends to create patterns and help the department with predictive analytics.

Hammac said that Shinbaum has proven to be an invaluable partner to the department and described her as one of the heroes behind the scenes.

“We have employed more of an intelligence-led strategy of policing,” Hammac said. “We have [Shinbaum] to look at our evolving crime trends and evolving statistical data of crime reporting, and that allows us to be more strategically focused on those areas that require greater visibility and attention.”

Hammac said one of the things the department tries to do is make Shelby County as uncomfortable as possible for would-be criminals. County leaders and municipal leaders partner with law enforcement in leveraging intelligence, he said, such as installing flock cameras (that can identify cars and read license plates) at major thoroughfares, roadways, parks and other spots.

“All of the municipalities have 20 to 50 cameras in their cities, and all of this is in one database,” Hammac said. “We can login and see what’s going on when any major event happens.”

Shinbaum said that the main focus of the Metro Area Crime Center is to acknowledge crime doesn’t have jurisdictional boundaries and the same offenders that commit crimes in one agency’s jurisdiction are probably committing crimes in other areas’ jurisdiction. Her work at the Crime Center is focused on crime data in Shelby County.

One of more significant property crimes we’ve faced over the last 10 years are car burglaries and unlawful breaking and entering of vehicles. That’s so significant to us because many of those are not forced entry. They are looking for unlocked cars and easy targets. Lots of folks have firearms in their vehicles, and when they leave it unsecured in a vehicle, it ends up in the hands of a criminal.

Other factors in the decreased crimes, according to Shinbaum, could include prolific offenders being in jail, crime could be displaced (meaning it’s not happening in the same area), environmental causes such as lighting and cameras, and changes in the laws, including a misdemeanor theft category that has been added.

The data shared is specific to felony crimes:

► Burglaries have decreased 18.6% from last year. The rates are down 26.3% when compared to 2020, and down 48.5% when compared to 2019. There were 109 burglaries reported in Shelby County last year, which is 30.6% below the normal range.

► Thefts have decreased 15.2% from last year. They are down 6.2% when compared to 2020, and down 25.8% when compared to 2019.

There were 347 thefts reported last year, 1.8% below the normal range.

► Unlawful breaking and entering of vehicles (UBEVs) have decreased 31.2% from last year. They are down 10.2% when compared to 2020, and down 39.8% when compared to 2019.

There were 101 UBEVs reported in 2022, 23.1% below the normal range.

“We are looking for patterns so we can identify common offenders and look for ways we can help strategies to keep crime down,” Shinbaum said. “But ultimately we are sharing information so that detectives from different agencies can solve crimes and get their victims justice.”

The Chelsea City Council on May 17 approved funds for a video board for Chelsea High School.