By Erin Smith
The opioid epidemic is driving an increase in the burglaries, robberies and larcenies for 2016. That is according to officials at the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office.
“The opioid epidemic is definitely fueling the break-ins,” said Jeff Tyler, with the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office.
Major Larry Guyton stressed these are reported crimes. He said there are many crimes that go unreported because the culprit is a family member dealing with addiction.
“There are crimes that go unreported because of opioid problems. They will steal from their family but they never report it until the family gets tired of it,” said Guyton.
He said often, the family will simply go to the pawn shop and buy the items back until it reaches a point where something has to be done.
The number of robberies reported in 2016, the latest year for which data is available, there were 23 reported robberies and there were 14 reported robberies in 2015 . The number of reported burglaries reported in 2016 was 532 and the number of burglaries reported in 2015 was 351.
The number of reported larcenies for 2016 was 377 and in 2015 there were 271 reported larcenies. The number of reported murders for 2016 was 3 and the number of reported murders for 2015 was 2.
Motor vehicle thefts were down for 2016. There were 47 reported motor vehicle thefts in 2015 and in 2016 there were 29 reported motor vehicle thefts.
The number of reported rapes decreased. In 2015, there were 11 incidents of rape and in 2016 there was only one reported case. The number of reported aggravated assaults also decreased. There were 92 reported aggravated assaults in 2015 and in 2016, there were 86 reported incidents of aggravated assaults.
Sheriff McVicker said of the increases, “Without a doubt it’s drugs.” He added, that overall, he is pleased with numbers.
He also noted, in addition to the opioid issue, there has been a change to the reporting system as well which has affected the way in which cases are tracked in the system.
For example, when a case is entered as a breaking and entering with a larceny, the system will show that case under the burglaries and also it will show up again under the larceny category. In order for the system to contain accurate numbers, Jeff Tyler explained they are having to reclassify some cases to account for how the reporting system tracks those cases.
“We’re looking at possibly changing the system,” said Sheriff McVicker.
The Sheriff’s Office is currently using the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) system used by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Sheriff McVicker said his staff is exploring a switch to the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) system used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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