The Myrtle Beach Police Department says it’s seeing an overall decrease in some of the most violent crimes.
Chief Amy Prock gave a public safety update to city leaders at their fall planning retreat Wednesday.
Prock’s presentation was basically a brief overview of the last year and the strategies the department continues to follow.
No new plans were presented, but she did want to highlight some numbers the department pulled.
The city saw an overall improvement in “part one” crimes since 2017. Part one crimes include homicides, aggravated assaults, robberies and burglaries.
Between 2016 and 2017 there was a 1.81% increase in part one crimes.
Between 2017 and 2018 there was a 21.48% decrease in part 1 crimes.
The trends were based on an overall total of part one crimes.
In the downtown tourist area, police saw more burglaries since 2017. Prock said that’s because of people not locking their cars and homes.
One homicide was reported in June 2018 in the downtown tourist area. None were reported in 2016 and 2017.
Chief Prock said there are a few different things that led to this trend, like the department’s new deployment model, the city surveillance cameras and increased communication between the community and police.
“Our business community, our residential community, our visitors coming in. When they receive information (they’re) providing information to us,” Prock said. “We need to, again, communicate. Just the biggest answer is communication and making sure we are receiving information.”