LAURINBURG — According to data collected by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Scotland County is continuing to see a rise in violent crime.

Scotland was one of the top five counties with the highest violent crime rate in 2020, with 906.5 events per 100,000 people, according to the annual report released in October by the SBI.

Violent crimes include murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. The rate is an increase from 2019, when it was 607.5.

“I’m not a big fan of the system they use,” said Scotland County Sheriff Ralph Kersey. “We’re a county of about 36,000 and the data used is per 100,000 and compares us to bigger counties like Robeson, who have much larger populations … in my opinion it’s not really a fair system — and I get using it for the larger counties, but it’s really not great when you look at what the breakdowns actually are not just these numbers.”

Kersey added even before the new data comes out from the SBI, residents can come by the Sheriff’s Office to see a more in-depth breakdown of the crimes that are being reported to the county.

According to the report, neighboring Robeson County has the highest reported violent crime rate of 1,190.3 per 100,000 followed by Lenoir County at 1,171, Edgecombe County with 1,118.4, Beaufort County at 1,040.3 and Cumberland County at 949.9.

While the report showed an increase in violent crimes, the total crime index for the county went down from 2019, going from 3,662 to 3,447.6 as the property crime rate went down. The report saw the property crime go from 3,054.5 to 2,541.

Leading in overall crime rates in 2020 was Lenoir with 7,169.8 and Forsyth with 4,785.6. Robeson County was third with an overall rate of 4,779, followed by Durham (4,595), Beaufort (4,545), Cherokee (4,318) and Cumberland (4,208.5). Scotland came in at number 14.

As a whole, violent crime went up 11% in the state according to the report while the total offenses decreased 4.5%.

“People look at these numbers as a whole and think ‘law enforcement isn’t doing their job’ but that’s just not true,” Kersey said. “We have so many programs going on that are actually working but you have to look at the breakdowns that are going on not just what’s in the report.”

Reach Katelin Gandee at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.