For the most part, many camp owners have not been to these properties since they packed up and left them last year. That is why the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office, as a service to camp owners, late last month began doing camp checks in its three patrol zones in The County.
Sheriff Darrell Crandall said Friday that the checks, which started this year on April 28, 2016, typically have been done with deputies driving up to certain areas and then walking in on foot. This year, however, the department had access to an off-road vehicle, called a Utility Task Vehicle, that was bought with a grant from the Maine Heritage Trail Foundation.
“We do the the checks in every area that our officers patrol,” said Crandall. “If there are areas where we tend to get more camp break-ins than in other areas, we prioritize and check those first.”
Crandall said that the sheriff’s office gets a number of camp break-in calls a year, and if the deputies get there first, they can collect evidence and have a better chance of catching the thieves.
During the recent checks, he said, the deputies found only one broken lock on a building, and when they contacted the camp owner, it turned out that it was a non-issue. Crandall said that the camp checks were just part of the more than 1,000 business, home, school and property inspections the sheriff’s office conducts each year.
“Every cent of our budget comes from property taxes, so I don’t think it is a stretch for us to make sure their properties are secure,” Crandall said Friday.
