The Inter-Mountain file photo Members of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office responded to 7,357 calls in 2018.

The Inter-Mountain file photo
Members of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office responded to 7,357 calls in 2018.

ELKINS — Randolph County Sheriff Mark Brady has announced his office responded to 7,357 calls in 2018.

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office totaled 1,203 traffic stops and responded to 340 collisions last year, Brady said.

During 2018, the Sheriff’s Office issued 364 citations on 494 violations, and also issued 522 warnings.

Brady said his office worked 617 criminal cases last year, involving 817 offenses, including 241 felonies and 570 misdemeanors. The Sheriff’s Office arrested 294 people in 2018.

“We had a 3 percent increase in calls last year, and a 40 percent increase in traffic stops,” Brady said.

His office also experienced a 15 percent increase in citations, a 7 percent increase in cases and a 2 percent increase in offenses.

“The most surprising thing is that felonies were down 4 percent,” Brady told Randolph County Commissioners. “Everything else went up but felonies went down. I’m not complaining, that’s not a bad thing.”

The office’s statistics show that misdemeanors were up 5 percent in 2018.

Brady said his office “seized almost a quarter million dollars worth of drugs off the street in drug cases.” The office also seized vehicles and cash in drug cases.

“We’ve been targeting the drug trafficing,” Brady said. “That’s our main goal. We’re going to continue that” in 2019.

Commissioner David Kesling thanked Brady for the report.

“We really appreciate everything you and your officers do for the county,” Kesling said.

In other news:

• Commissioners said the new Randolph County 911 center should be ready for operation within months.

March 15 is the anticipated completion date for the renovation work to the building located by the Elkins-Randolph County Airport, Commission President Mark Scott said.

“We’ve been extremely pleased” by the work that has already been done, Scott said.

After the construction and renovation work has been completed, vendors will install equipment into the building, Scott added. May 15 is the “date to occupy” the building, he said.

The cost of the total project is estimated at $3 million.