New statistics from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show crime dropped two percent in the state for the first six months of 2017.
But crime in Martin County spiked 30 percent between January and June of this year. The area covered by the Sheriff’s Office saw an even higher bump, of more than 37 percent
"The spike is real but in some sense, it’s a statistical anomaly based on the low amount of crime we have to start with," said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.
Sheriff Snyder says many of these criminals are crossing county lines. “There’s hardly a night that goes by that we don’t find someone from south of here up to no good.”
One thing the sheriff’s office is trying to do is get more help from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Currently, Martin and St. Lucie counties are grouped into the Central Florida region based out of Orlando. But with much of the current crime problem coming from the south, they’re hoping they can get repositioned and work more closely with South Florida agencies.
"Better intelligence data sharing will occur and we’re going to move into this region if I have to call the governor myself," said Sheriff Snyder.
Technology will help, so will a new tactical surveillance team, but the sheriff says citizens aiding with eyes and ears is the best antidote to a rising crime rate.
“We do everything we can but we have to have support of citizens which I think we do have, we just need more,” Sheriff Snyder said.
The sheriff asserting that Martin is one of the safest counties in the state and confident that next year at this time, the crime rate will be trending in the right direction.