Sheriff presents year-end report
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ELKINS -- Sheriff Rob Elbon presented the Randolph County Commission with a year-end report during the commissioners' most recent meeting.
Elbon presented Commissioners David Kesling, Cris Siler and Chris See with statistics from last year and went into details about the Sheriff's Office's activities in 2023.
"We had a total of 7,085 calls last year," Elbon said. "That's up 13 percent from the previous year. Those calls include traffic stops and everything else that we do. Out of those calls we generated 448 cases for 619 offenses."
Of the 619 offenses in 2023, 469 of those were misdemeanors and 150 felonies. Misdemeanor offenses were up 24 percent, while felony offenses were up just 3 percent over 2022.
"We arrested 145 individuals for 230 offenses last year, and that's up 7 percent and 19 percent, respectively, " said Elbon. "The arrests were for 40 felonies, which was down 22 percent, and 190 misdemeanors, which was up 28 percent."
Elbon said the Randolph County Sheriff's Office investigated 309 auto collisions last year and made 1,183 traffic stops during that time.
"The traffic stops were down 1 percent last year and I attribute that to me, because I didn't drive for three months with a broken leg," said Elbon. "We issued 326 citations for 384 violations in 2023, and warnings were at 430 for the year, which was up 24 percent."
The RCSO made 126 Civil Process attempts a year ago and made 61 transports, including 40 mental hygiene transports. Officers completed approximately 230,750 patrol miles during that time.
"Of our call volumes, you would think Friday and Saturday would be the days we get the most calls, but Thursday is our No. 1 call day and Wednesday is No. 2," said Elbon. "Our guys work hard every day and right now we have 17 full-time guys working and one in the academy. I'm very satisfied with the work the guys are doing."
Elbon said last year's numbers don't reflect all of the hard work put in by the Mountain Region Drug & Violent Crime Task Force.
"Of all the numbers I released, there's no stats for the Task Force," said Elbon. "Those numbers aren't something I can share with everyone, but those guys are doing some really, really important stuff all the time. Of course you never know about that work until we make arrests, do a raid or something like that. Those guys are working hard and they are doing some good stuff right now."
Elbon said combatting the drug problem in the county will be one of his office's top priorities in 2024.
"The drugs are still an issue and it seems like a lot of our young folks are experimenting," said Elbon. "I would like to educate those folks, those young people who are trying stuff, about the dangers that are out there. They need to be very, very careful, because they may be told something is one thing and it won't be what they are told."