An update from the Tyrrell County Sheriff’s Office

Published 4:07 pm Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Tyrrell County sheriff’s deputies received 587 law enforcement calls inside Columbia during July, Sheriff Darryl Liverman reported to the Columbia Board of Aldermen on Aug. 7.

There were 27 ambulance and 13 fire calls in July.

Officers performed 337 business and 40 security checks, served 20 court papers, responded to 13 motor vehicle accidents and 10 intrusion alarms, made 31 traffic stops, unlocked 14 vehicles, conducted three investigations and performed a host of other duties.

In the northwest quadrant of the town, as divided by Scuppernong Drive and Broad Street, 12 citations were issued (two for vehicle violations, one for noise ordinance violation and nine for drugs). There was one on-view arrest for drunk and disruptive.

In the northeast sector there were four investigations, seven citations were issued (three for vehicle violations, two for alcohol and two for drugs). Three orders for arrest were served for failure to appear in court as ordered. And one on-view arrest was made for misdemeanor marijuana possession and possession of alcohol by a person under age 21.

No activities were reported in the southwest section of town.

In the southeast one investigation was conducted and two warrants served — one for assault on a female and misdemeanor larceny and one for injury to personal property.

Five warrants were served in the sheriff’s office: four for possession of a controlled substance on prison or jail premises and one for simple assault.

The sheriff commented that 16 Tyrrell Prison Work Farm inmates had been arrested on drug possession charges “in the past several months, and there were three more overdoses there this past weekend.”

“They’re finding drugs or reporting an overdose in the prison practically every week,” Liverman said, adding that the overdoses are taking resources from the county — three ambulances were on scene there at one time recently.

To illustrate the level of law enforcement activity in Tyrrell County, the sheriff handed out a tabulation issued by the Regional Emergency Communications Center that shows Tyrrell officers responded to 1,263 law enforcement calls in July, compared with 1,151 by the Kitty Hawk Police Department and 1,038 by Southern Shores PD, “and this at the height of the tourist season there.”

Liverman said he and his officers participated in the Governor’s Highway Safety Program’s Operation Firecracker June 30 through July 9. They conducted three driver’s license check points, issued 24 speeding and five other motor vehicle citations, and charged 17 drug and one alcohol violations.

Deputies assigned to duty in Columbia drove 2,274 miles in July.