Break-ins of homes in the county have Kirsten Moss, who lives on a road off the Parksville Crosspike, concerned.
“A neighbor of mine said one of their friends down the road had been hit,” she said. “We are spread out here so we don’t really see each other but that’s what I was told — that they had been crawling through dog doors. We are paying close attention to things like making sure our garage doors are down.”
Boyle County Sheriff Marty Elliott said his office is working the complaints lately centered in rural areas such as Alum Springs Crosspike and Webster Road, and arrests will be made.
“There has been a rash of break-ins out in the county,” he said. “We are getting on top of it.”
Elliott said resources are spread thin but his office still is committed to addressing the issue.
“It’s a passion of mine, solving break-ins. In the 20 years I’ve been doing this, everybody knows I will get to the bottom of this,” Elliott said. He added the majority of the break-ins are of the “smash and grab” variety, in which somebody kicks open the door of an unoccupied house and is back out in three to five minutes carrying whatever cash, electronics and other items that can be grabbed quickly. Then, they run back to a waiting car.
“Most don’t want to encounter anybody because that raises it to a whole other ‘home invasion’ level,” Elliott said.
He added, while single-event crimes of opportunity and one-time “dare” types of crimes are still crimes, the professionals who do this for a living is where he has set his sights.
One of the “major components” of putting that type of crook out of business, Elliott said, is community cooperation.
“Call the sheriff ’s department about suspicious vehicles,” he said, adding a good vehicle description is what his deputies need.
“You can write, just with your finger, a license plate number down on a window and we can get the number from that,” he said.
