Source: https://wwmt.com/news/local/i-team-rising-crime-in-west-michigan-cities-spilling-over-into-rural-communities
PAW PAW. Mich. — As crime rates have skyrocketed in West Michigan’s biggest cities, law enforcement officials in surrounding communities say they’re seeing the impact spread.
“I’ve been at this sheriff’s office for almost 28-and-a-half-years and I’ve never seen numbers jump off the chart like this,” said Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott.
Police in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids have dealt with a sharp increase in gun violence and the number of illegal firearms seized in 2021, Abbott said the crime is starting to consistently spill over into his county for the first time.
“We are starting to see that coming into our community with the stolen vehicles, stolen guns, the drug smuggling,” he said.
Records obtained by News Channel 3 show fleeing and eluding in Van Buren County has jumped 65% in 2021 compared to the first half of 2020, something Abbott credits to an increasing number of people driving through in vehicles that were stolen or used in crimes in West Michigan’s more populous areas.
“On a regular basis we get those area BOLs [Be On the Lookouts]. ‘This vehicle was stolen, this vehicle was stolen’ and here a few weeks ago we had like nine stolen vehicles and the BOLs were coming in anywhere from Kent County to Kalamazoo County,” Abbott said.
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It’s a challenge law enforcement agencies in rural areas say they’re struggling with this summer.
“We have seen an increase in fleeing and eluding with some of our cases,” Allegan County Sheriff Capt. Scott Matice said.
So far he said the actual gun violence hasn’t made its way into the more rural communities but there is concern it could start spilling over.
“It does seem like it’s been getting more violent throughout the years, and luckily we haven’t seen that,” Matice said.
In rural communities larcenies and assaults are on the rise. In Van Buren County assaults are up 18% and larcenies have increased 10% compared to the first six months of 2020.
“Anything that’s not bolted down is getting stolen,” Abbott said.
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He added that more and more often groups from out of county come in for a night, breaking into vehicles and stealing what they find.
“There’s a big increase, you can see it,” Abbott said. “You’re seeing three, four individuals getting dropped off and going through subdivisions.”