Sheriff offers tips to rural BC residents

A group of Boulder Creek landowners met with Sgt. Jim Ross of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office this week to discuss how to deal with a slew of thefts in the past several months off of rural roads north of Boulder Creek.
Residents of the Deer Creek Road Association met with Ross to tell him about recent thefts, including a kitchen sink, generators, copper wiring, siphoned gas and many other items from their homes.
Some of the rural properties along Deer Creek Road, off of Bear Creek Road, have long been known as a haven for drug dealers and larger-scale drug operations, neighbors say. The road association approached the sheriff after a rash of what neighbors suspect were drug-related crimes. The neighbors asked to remain unnamed for fear of retaliation from the culprits, but they hoped to find out what they could do to increase the sheriff’s presence on the winding dirt roads.
“The neighborhood is improving over time, but there’s still a pocket of not-goodness,” one said. “We’re trying to clean up the area and, unfortunately, it’s going to be difficult.”
Ross, the sergeant for the San Lorenzo Valley, offered the following tips to rural residents who may have recurring problems:
**Each property theft should be reported so it is recorded in the sheriff’s log. Missing items might be found during an unrelated car stop, if the sheriff’s office knows about them.
**After a crime is reported, the dispatcher can have a deputy call and explain how the situation is resolved.
**Be specific when calling in a crime. The more details the deputies have, the better they will be able to respond.
**Reports can be filed online at www.scsheriff.com or by phone at 471-1121.
**The sheriff’s office can help clear abandoned vehicles off public roads.
**Worries about a specific area should be shared with Ross, who said he would work to arrange either more patrols or other kinds of help.