CCW permits brought in $72,000, sheriff's sales netted $384,412 in 2021

COSHOCTON Sheriff James Crawford predicts revenue for the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office will go down in 2022 because of legislative changes regarding conceal carry and sheriff's sales.

Crawford recently delivered his annual report to Coshocton County Commissioners that went over financial elements, services performed and other highlights for 2021.

He reported 659 new conceal carry permits issued in 2021 and 570 renewals, up from 353 new permits and 140 renewals in 2020. Licenses brought in more than $72,000 last year, with some of that going to the state.

Crawford credited the big rise to residents being able to get licenses outside of their home counties, which happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said several people from urban areas came to Coshocton County for their CCW. That stopped last June with sheriff's offices now only being able to accept outside applications from bordering counties.

While that difference would bring down CCW fees for this year, Crawford guesses they'll go down about 75% due to other legislative changes.

Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed into law Senate Bill 215, known as the Constitutional Carry Bill.It makes concealed handgun licenses optional. Previously, one had to pass a background check and provide proof of eight hours of training before receiving a CCW license. Now anyone who can legally carry a gun can without the previously required training and permit.

Crawford said they've been pushing the importance of still getting a CCW license. This includes the training, ability to carry out of state andbeing able to buy a firearm immediately.

"People are still pursuing the conceal carry permit, but I don't think we'll see the numbers," Crawford said in relation to 2021. "I'm excited for (the change), but from a business standpoint, supplying those permits, it's kind of disappointing."

For sheriff's sales, there were 56 in 2021 with total sale amount of $384,412. Crawford looks for this figure go down by more than halfbased on state changes.Private sellers can now sell homes that would have normally gone to sheriff's sales. Crawford said his office is now only getting about one in five foreclosed properties.

"You'll see a lot of sheriff's sales on the website when you do a search, but you'll see very few we're actually conducting," Crawford said. "It's taken our ability to receive outside revenue for doing our job, what I always felt was our job."

While this drop in revenue is a blow, he doesn't see it having a major effect on the department. The budget is about $5.5 million annually with most of the funding coming from the county and city. The biggest expenditure, 67%, is salaries with benefits taking up another 20%.

Sex Offenders: There are 62 sex offenders who currently register and are tracked. The majority, 33, are Tier II offenders who have to register for 25 years.

Communications: The communications center received more than 34,000 calls in 2021, including 10,449 being via 911. Nearly all calls were answered by the 10second mark with 68% answered within three seconds. Of 911 calls, 2,500 were from landlines and 7,949 via wireless means.

Violent Crimes: Handled for 2021 were three murders, 19 rapes, three robberies and two aggravated assaults.

Property Crimes: Handled for 2021 were 325 larcenies, 38 motor vehicle thefts, 29 burglaries and one arson.

Traffic: There were 775 non-injury crashes and 212 crashes with injury, plus 141 crashes recorded as hit and skip, where parties left the scene. There were 2,967 traffic stops made with 636 citations issues and 100 arrests made for operating a vehicle impaired in 2021.

Miscellaneous: The sheriff's office last year had 83 missing persons cases with 41 being juvenile and 42 being adults. Deputies answered 306 calls for threats, 78 for assaults and 117 for domestic issues.

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with close to 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @llhayhurst.

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Changes to conceal carry, foreclosures impacts sheriff's office - Coshocton Tribune