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ELKINS – The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office is asking motorists to slow down, after a higher-than-average number of traffic stops last month.
Sheriff Rob Elbon shared information this week revealing some of the Sheriff’s Offices’ activity numbers during the month of September.
The information showed that he and his deputies answered a total of 565 calls for service during last month, which Elbon said was about average.
“The 565 is right around our typical call volume for a month,” Elbon told The Inter-Mountain this week. “That’s the number of calls the Sheriff’s Office went out on for the month of September. But that’s a pretty normal number for a month. We answered over 7,000 calls last year.”
Elbon pointed out that the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office made 324 traffic stops in September, which is a number he said is higher than normal.
“That’s up a good bit. It’s up a lot, honestly,” Elbon said. “We have been focusing more on traffic stops, mostly because we are trying to get people to slow down with all the car accidents we’ve been having.”
The Sheriff’s Office was the lead on 16 reportable collision investigations in September, but Elbon said that number isn’t at all indicative of how many motor vehicle accidents happened in Randolph County last month.
“The car accidents we responded to last month don’t include all of the ones that actually happened in the county, because the State Police and city police take a lot of those calls,” Elbon said. “The county is busy with accidents, it really is.”
Elbon said the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office isn’t focusing on any certain areas in particular when it comes to making traffic stops.
“Our deputies are all over the county. I just told them to make traffic stops,” Elbon said. “They are writing citations where there’s actual criminal activity or criminal charges. If you’re driving with no insurance, you’re suspended, and things like that, we tow the vehicles off. But we issue a lot of warnings as well. We want to try and be decent with some things.”
Elbon’s information showed that the RCSO issued 210 warning tickets and handed out 65 citations for 68 offenses. There were 18 individual arrests for 22 offenses and 36 cases initiated.
“Most of the citations were for driving suspended and things like that, but sometimes when we make a stop we come across somebody who has a warrant,” Elbon said. “But people need to be aware that we are running radar and we are pulling cars over. We are trying to slow people down so that everyone can be safe.”