A safety and drug seminar was conducted Thursday by Detective Larry Tunstall of the Rockingham Police Department to educate residents of the dangers of theft, drug addiction and to boost police presence in Rockingham.

“Education is our best protection,” Tunstall said.

The seminar, held on McArthur Drive, was a way to assist in boosting law enforcement presence in the area.

Vivian Leak, manager of an apartment complex on McArthur Drive, asked for the police department to visit the area and talk with some of the residents to make the area safer.

Much of the seminar was dedicated to educating people on how to protect individual’s homes and identities and how to spot drug addiction signs.

The best system in helping deter crime is a “neighbor helping neighbor mentality” and it was the same community awareness that assisted in apprehending suspects in a slew of vehicle breaking and enterings recently near Fayetteville Street in Rockingham, according to Tunstall.

According to Leak, an increase in crime and drug use near the apartments sparked interest in having an officer come educate tenants and staff.

Cocaine, marijuana and prescription pills are the biggest threat police face when dealing with drug usage in the city, according to Tunstall.

If anyone has information or they believe they have been a victim of a crime, they can reach the Rockingham Police Department at (910) 895-2468.
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Law enforcement’s hands-on efforts are having an impact, Rockingham Police Chief Robert Voorhees told the city council Tuesday night.

“One thing I’ve insisted on as department head is that we’re not going to lose that personal touch and personal feel with the community,” Voorhees told the council during his summation of police activities over the course of the year.

He explained his emphasis on interaction with the public as a way to strengthen reporting and crime prevention.

This policy is exemplified by the activities of the Long Drive Task Force, Voorhees said.

This task force patrolled Cauthen and Long Drive and Town Park Apartments during the summer of 2008, with officers wearing white polo shirts and riding golf-carts and other alternatives to traditional patrol cars.

Voorhees said it focused on visibility and building trust with citizens.

“I’m confident that this is the reason we had a significant decrease in call volume there,” he said.

“We want to build a personal relationship with people, so that they feel they can call in and ask for Officer X,Y or Z, and just have a conversation without necessarily reporting a crime,” Voorhees said.

He also noted things like offering an escort to the bank for local businesses and community involvement and visibility enhance this approach.

“You don’t know what you deter ... until you see it start to occur, and see that up tick of crime,” he said.

He cited examples, such as deterring a home burglary because the would-be perpetrator sees a patrol officer writing a seatbelt ticket on the street where the crime would have been committed.

The report itself includes all crime data for 2008, as well as community-based activities, internal projects, seized drug funds and the status of grants.

The Rockingham Police Department answered 12,457 calls in 2008, which was just under a 6 percent decrease from the 13,316 calls answered in 2007, but a 9 percent increase from the 11,411 calls answered in 2006.

This is an average of 630 calls per officer, according to the report.

The report notes that through the utilization of grants and restructuring, the department possesses the ability to handle some future growth at its current staff level.

“Obviously, call volume exceeding a 12-plus percent increase a year could at some point in the future become a staffing issue,” the report reads. “We will continue to monitor call volume levels as well as the demand placed on our officers.”

There were 526 felony arrests executed by city police during the course of 2008, which Voorhees noted was a significant increase from the 394 felony arrests in 2007.

“Drug violations are down somewhat,” he said. “The trend, as in the rest of the country, is an increase in property crime. We are thankful that violent crime isn’t the one that’s up, but we need to concentrate our efforts on property crime.”

The report shows 200 drug violations during 2008, as compared to 281 in 2007.

However Voorhees noted several arrests have been made already in 2009, some stemming from investigations that carried over from the last year, including the seizure of over $80,000 from two suspects.

The report states that more than $100,000 in cash and other liquid assets were seized as a result of drug arrests in 2008.

Between the Vice Narcotics Division, the Aggressive Crime Enforcement Team and the patrol division, in 2008 more than 2,400 grams of cocaine were seized, along with over 200 pounds of marijuana, an ounce of methamphetamine and nearly $50,000 in cash.

The only categories of felony arrests experiencing an increase in 2008 were murder and assaults.

There were four arrests for murder in 2008, as compared to two in 2007, and assault arrests rose from 237 to 295.

The report states a new emphasis on traffic enforcement and seat belt violations, coupled with closer cooperation with the Governor’s Highway Safety Program led to a 250 percent increase in traffic citations in 2008, as compared to 2002 when the department issued 1,123 citations.

Personal injuries as a result of traffic accidents have decreased nearly a quarter over the past three years, according to the report.

There were a total of 711 accidents investigated by the Rockingham Police Department last year, and 269 of those took place in parking lots, Voorhees noted.

“There was mostly very little damage (in these accidents),” he said, adding that many were caused by the design of parking lots, while some involved carelessness when reversing out of a parking space.

Officers of the department logged in 3,138 classroom hours of in-service training.

“That’s in addition to all the Internet courses they have,” Voorhees said, noting that in-service training like S.W.A.T Team training isn’t reflected in this number, either.

Voorhees said the grant status of the department was “very bleak in 2007, but we are optimistic about it in the future.”

He noted the stimulus package being debated in Congress could make some funds available to the department, and “get us back to where we were, not adding anything new.”

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