PEARL RIVER COUNTY — Burglaries in Pearl River County have increased in the past several months and the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department asks residents to take precautions and stay watchful to help curb the trend.

Officials with the sheriff’s department have noticed an increase in the number of burglaries, especially residential, in the last two months. Chief Deputy Shane Tucker said burglaries typically increase during summer months and right around Christmas time.

Over the past five-and-a-half-months the department has received about 232 reports of burglaries, more than 90 percent of which occurred at a home,

Tucker said. During the month of April there were 37 total reported burglaries, 28 occurred at an occupied dwelling. In May, 44 burglaries were reported to the sheriff’s department, and 39 occurred at a home. So far for the month of June there have been 34 reported burglaries already, 30 at a home, Tucker said. Tucker said that while only a small percentage of burglaries in the county occur at businesses, burglaries that do not occur at an occupied dwelling are categorized as a commercial burglary. Such burglaries could include a shed or other outlying structure at a home, a vehicle and of course a business. However, Tucker said about 99 percent of burglaries categorized as commercial do not occur at a business. Tucker said a major reason is because most businesses are located in the municipalities of Picayune and Poplarville.

Battling the issue is tough because each time a suspect is arrested for such a crime, more people take their place, Tucker said.

To help curb some of these crimes Tucker, Sheriff David Allison and Chief Investigator Donnie Saucier ask the public to report any kind of strange activity they may see in their neighborhoods, such as a strange vehicle parked in front of a home loading items.

“I’d rather go check out a tip that didn’t go anywhere than for them not to call and a burglar get away,” Tucker said.

There have been incidents where a burglary was called in and while the department was investigating the crime, neighbors would say that they saw a strange vehicle at the home but did not report it, Saucier said.

Most burglaries tend to occur during the day while people are at work. Tucker suggests neighbors who are retired or don’t work can start a neighborhood watch and homeowners can invest in alarm systems from credible companies.

The most common items stolen from a home usually fall into the electronics category, such as large, flat-screen televisions and video game consoles. Other items typically stolen from a home include firearms. Such items easily can be sold to pawn shops or even individuals and since most people fail to record the serial numbers of their valuables, once stolen they are hard to recover, Tucker said.

Pearl River County is the fourth largest county in the state and is rural in nature. That fact combined with an average of only five deputies on patrol at any given time makes it hard for officers to catch burglaries while they are occurring, Tucker said. In addition, no one community in the county is burglarized more than another.

Allison said more deputies on the streets would help, but with the county in an economic downturn and his budget being cut, additional personnel is not an option. However, Allison said he has a plan to have on duty two investigators per shift per day to work the burglaries.

Any victim of a burglary knows that these crimes are an invasion of privacy and leave the victims with lasting negative feelings. Allison said he has talked to burglary victims who have said they felt like moving to a new home after theirs had been burglarized.

“It’s a serious crime and we’re doing everything we can to get it stopped,” Allison said.

While Pearl River County is not the most heavily populated county in this Circuit Court District, Tucker said the Sheriff Department’s six investigators provide 50 percent of the felony cases handled the District Attorney’s office handles in the district. The 15th Circuit District includes Pearl River County, Jefferson Davis, Lamar, Lawrence and Marion Counties. Tucker said each of the department’s six investigators handle between 50 to 60 cases at a time.