Less than 17 percent of Carolina Forest residents feel secure at home, study says

Do residents in Carolina Forest feel secure in their own homes?

According to a new survey, they don’t.

A survey released Wednesday by the Carolina Forest Civic Association shows that less than 17 percent of residents feel secure.

Civic association officials say that number is due to a lack of police and media coverage of crime that happens in the area.

“Basically, people don’t feel safe because they know there’s only two full-time officers and two rotating officers,” said civic association President Carol vanSickler.

Civic association board member Jeff DeSantis said the low percentage was concerning.

“It comes down to the police coverage, police response times and also from the articles that have been posted about issues in Carolina Forest,” he said. “I think that’s going to be one of the biggest talking points beside roads and traffic and planning and zoning.”

The Carolina Forest area had an estimated 2016 population of 25,500 people, according to documents provided by Horry County Planning and Zoning Deputy Director David Schwerd.

The Carolina Forest area zip code 29579 used in the study has a population of almost 35,000 people, according to the U.S. Census 2015 American Community Survey.

“The simple fact that we have only three police officers on a given shift covering the Carolina Forest area is crazy,” said DeSantis, adding that Carolina Forest wasn’t getting its fair share of the Horry County Police Department’s officer pool.

Horry County police did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Fully staffed, the department has between 267 and 270 officers, according to Chief Joe Hill. Three officers represent little more than 1 percent of the police force.

The 25,500 people in the Carolina Forest area represents almost 9 percent of the county’s 290,000 people, according to 2015 census figures.

The solution, said DeSantis, is better police coverage – or incorporation.

This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Less than 17 percent of Carolina Forest residents feel secure at home, study says."