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SHEBOYGAN, WI (WHBL) - Sheboygan County Sheriff Todd Priebe is at odds with a local gun shop owner’s position on a perceived rise in crime in Sheboygan that is driving up gun sales .
The sheriff says the overall crime rate for 2014 in Sheboygan County is down.
“With the exception of burglaries. Our burglaries are up and, significantly up, and we do feel as if that is driven by our drug issue that we have throughout the county,” Preibe says .
Gene Schnurr, of SheBoyGuns Shooter Supply, recently told WHBL news that sales have skyrocketed at his store, which he co-owns.
Schnurr says, “All cause of the dangers of the street. You know, all of the drug dealing, the burglaries, the looting and stuff going on, the purse snatching."
Sheboygan saw a spate of high profile crimes in the last five months of 2014, including two burglaries at Glander Prescription Plus – with an additional attempted burglary, a string of armed robberies at local gas stations during the holiday season, and a shooting in November on South 10th street that left two people wounded.
Sheriff Preibe admits Sheboygan has issues, but says the crime rise perception is not the reality.
“Unfortunately what gets a lot of the attention is the high profile, negative stuff, and we have a tendency of dwelling on that. I think we have more going for us than other areas. - and together, working hand-in-hand with the public, and with law enforcement, we can maintain a quality of life that we expect in our neighborhoods- but we do have to work together on it and we can achieve that,” the sheriff says.