Both violent and property crimes were down in 2014, compared to the previous year, said Manning Police Chief Blair Shaffer on Monday during Manning City Council’s regular monthly meeting.
“Overall, we’ve seen an 11.5 percent decrease, and that’s great compared to other areas in South Carolina,” Shaffer said. “Particularly, South Carolina s a whole has increased historically, as it did last year. A decrease of 11.5 percent is a testament to the hard work between both our officers and the residents of Manning.”
The city had zero reported homicides in 2014, compared to one the previous year. There were also only three reported robberies, compared to nine the prior year. There were three less aggravated assaults in 2014 than 2013, seven less burglaries, nine less larcenies and six left automobile thefts.
The city experienced a slight rise in just two areas of property and violent crime: There was one reported rape in 2014, compared to none reported in 2013, likewise with arson.
“We thank our citizens for reporting crime when they see or experience it,” Shaffer said. “This drop is a testament, again, to everyone working together. Our residents want a safe community and they mostly abide by the laws.”
The city saw several substantial increases in three distinct areas outside violent and property crime, Shaffer reported.
“DUI arrests were up 33 percent over 2013,” he said, noting 28 arrests in 2014, compared to 21 in 2013. “We also had a 35 percent increase in drug possession charges, with 70 of those in 2014, compared to 52 in 2013.”
Fraud cases saw the largest increase.
“We had more than a 50 percent increase,” Shaffer said. “We took 116 reports dealing with fraud in 2014. We only took 76 reports in 2013.”
Shaffer said fraud cases included everything from identity theft to check and sweepstakes scams to breach of trust with fraudulent intent.
“We have a lot of these calls or letters from these scammers who tell residents they won some jackpot, but they need to pay an upfront fee,” Shaffer said. “Most of our residents know these are scams, but we do have a few who are convinced and they’re going to send this money because they won a lot of money and they want it.”
Shaffer said the 116 reports don’t represent that many victims.
“Again, we’ve got residents who report fraudulent activity, but they haven’t fallen prey to it,” Shaffer said. “A lot of our responsibility as law enforcement officers is to educate and get it out there that this is going on.”
Shaffer said that includes getting reports out through media when one resident reports a possible scam.
Shaffer said ultimately his department received and responded to 9,500 calls in 2014.
“That includes traffic stops,” he said.
