Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office annual report shows decrease in violent crimes for 2024

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office released its annual report, which looks at crime in the county and how the agency is working to reduce crime rates.

“This is a comprehensive report that catalogs all the activities of the sheriff’s office for the last calendar year,” said Berkeley County Sheriff Duane Lewis. “We had some technological advancements when it comes to cell phone data extraction. We had a number of illegal narcotics arrests, I think over 600.”

Sheriff Lewis said they have seen a decrease in violent crimes and said property crime numbers have leveled off compared to previous years.

“What really interests me is the amount of people that are in the detention center. We’ve gone from roughly housing about 360 to 400. We’re over 500 inmates now, so that’s creating quite a challenge for us,” he said.

Data shows there were 87,000 calls for service and 1,993 arrests in 2024. The department’s drug enforcement task force gathered more than 13 pounds of cocaine and eight points of fentanyl or heroin.

When it comes to the fight against fentanyl, Sheriff Lewis said there was an increase last year; however, the agency isn’t seeing the same numbers this year. “I believe some of it has to do with the illegal border crossings, and that fentanyl coming over the border, we’re starting to see a little bit of a decrease.”

Some areas they are looking to improve: “We’re looking at a number of things; we’re looking at some equipment increases. Our main focus this year with the budget is getting raises for deputies. We’re trying to keep up with the Lowcountry as far as law-enforcement pay goes.”

You can read the entire report and look at reports from prior years by clicking here.