White County, Arkansas – One White County Detective located over sixty stolen cars.
The man hours and outcomes highlight the need to reduce crime in the county.
Detective Kenneth Booth of the White County Sheriff’s Office Street Crimes Unit claims that he is able to locate stolen goods—not all of which are taken from within White County—by means of his team’s assistance in tracking down crimes that transcend county lines and wind up in their backyard.
“I just do what I was tasked to do, and I hope I can keep doing it,” Booth said.
Booth has already recovered his 59th stolen car this year, and October is hardly through yet.
“Last year I recovered over 2 million dollars in stolen vehicles and cars, and this year I’m only up to a little bit over 1 million, so in my mind I’m behind,” Booth said.
Around four years ago, the White County Sheriff’s Department established the street crimes team. According to Booth, since then, there has been a drop in crime, demonstrating that this is a proactive rather than merely reactive approach to crime investigation.
According to research, his recovery rates were significantly greater than his open cases.
“Where if an officer takes a report for a stolen car, it’s assigned to a detective, he chases that stolen car, I do the same thing, but when I’m about and about looking for this stolen car, I’m looking for other stolen cars, four wheelers, and things of that nature,” Booth said.
This group is always searching and recovering, and occasionally their efforts are rewarded. It turns out the automobile was stolen in 2019 when he discovered it poking up in the sea, marking his 59th vehicle recovery. According to Booth, he is always looking for moving objects.
“For example, that’s a fake Texas title, that was on one, and the next thing you know it’s here in AR, and I go track it down,” Booth said.
Booth claims that certain county vehicle thefts are the fault of individuals he refers to as neighborhood bandits and that you are capable of preventing this kind of crime from occurring.
“Just take the keys out of the car, lock everything up,” Booth said.
The bulk of the stolen stuff has been found, according to Detective Booth, who states that reports of stolen items in White County are his top priority. He will keep working with the department to help White County, he adds, adding that there are always more cases to solve and properties to locate.