ROCKY POINT, Okla. - The Wagoner County Sheriff's Department is focusing efforts on a part of town it says is experiencing increasing amounts of thefts and larceny.
It's not a sight many see often, a sheriff patrolling the streets.
But that's what Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliot was doing when he pulled up to a Rocky Point business not too long ago.
“She was concerned because she said she had people that patronized the Rocky Point RV park come in and make the statement 'we’re never coming back here to camp again,'" the sheriff said.
The owner was upset.
“While I was there talking to her two more customers came in and relayed similar stories.”
They told him the RV park just across the street had become a hot spot for crime.
“They just show up and gather up stuff from the campers," said Rocky Point RV Park Gate Attendant Walter Cook.
Mr. and Mrs. Cook's house is perched right up at the front of the park.
“Most of them are coming back behind the woods," said his wife Faye Cook, also a gate attendant.
“The reason I wasn’t aware of it was because it’s not being reported to the sheriff’s office," the sheriff said, citing only two calls in the past couple of weeks.
But he said the crime spreads.
He's heard stories similar to the one just three miles down the water near Lake Crest.
The door kicked in, TV, money and other items all stolen.
“I will tell you you should see more deputies patrolling that area and more deputies in and out of the Rocky Pointe RV Park.”
The sheriff crafting a more aggressive plan of attack.
“When they feel like law enforcement's around they’re not as apt to do anything," Faye said.
She and Walter are hopeful their quaint getaway can become peaceful again.
“I know we’ve put them through a lot of work, but it’s really been nice.”
The sheriff urges anyone in the area who experiences a crime to report it, so it can catch dangerous patterns like this one sooner.
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