BPD has a person of interest in recent cases
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
The City of Beaufort Police Department (BPD) has a person of interest in two break-ins that occurred June 27 and 28 in downtown Beaufort.
“We’re just waiting on some lab work to come back,” said Lt. Col. Stephenie Price, Deputy Chief and spokesperson for the Beaufort Police Department.
Price was speaking to about 20 business owners at a Tuesday morning meeting of the Downtown Beaufort Merchants’ Association at the Thibault Gallery on Bay Street.
Early Tuesday morning, June 27, someone broke into Bathe, a local business which sells soaps, lotions and rubber duckies at 210 Scott Street by breaking the bottom of the glass door with the jack from a car and squeezing inside.
The thief yanked the cash drawer out of the register and then left through the hole they came in through, making off with around $450.
Then again, the next morning, the same thing happened to NeverMore Books at 910 Port Republic Street. Only this time, the thief had trouble getting in the door thanks to the safety glass and a tinted film on the door.
Then once on the inside, there was no cash for the thief to make off with. Adding insult to injury, according to NeverMore owners Dave and Lorrie Anderson, the thief cut themselves getting through the door, leaving their blood behind.
After the meeting, Price was asked if the lab work on which the BPD was waiting was related to this blood, Price said she couldn’t answer that question.
During the meeting, Price said the recent break-ins downtown had all been businesses away from Bay Street – Coastal Art was the victim of a break-in a month or so before Bathe and NeverMore Books.
Price confirmed the belief the culprits are one in the same – “The evidence is leaning that way.”
The point of entry for the break-ins – the glass doors of the businesses. Price said the thieves were looking for a couple of things they could simply see by looking through the windows of the business.
“They’re looking for the iPad and Square, … and then cash,” she said. “You shouldn’t keep anything of value where it can be seen through the front window of the business.”
She also emphasized, if downtown business owners don’t have cameras or an alarm, it’s in their best interest that they get them.
Notes of interest
– Price said the BPD presence had increased downtown, even if people can’t immediately see it.
– Price said there were two more upcoming opportunities for the public and the officers of the Beaufort Police Department to get together. The BPD will host another family movie – “Horton Hears A Who!” – July 27 at Washington Street Park. And then the BPD will host its first open house August 5.
– The Department has secured a grant which will guarantee a Student Resource Officer in every school withing the City of Beaufort, including two at Beaufort High School,
– And finally, making it a rarity in South Carolina, if not the country, Price said the BPD is, for the first time in quite a while, fully staffed.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
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