‘Streamlined’ operation helps Pooler tackle transient crimes, traffic issues – Savannah Morning News

Officials say crime is under control despite the rapid growth to Pooler and they intend to keep it that way.

Its been peacefully quiet in Pooler, said Pooler Police Chief Mark Revenew last week.

But there are still some concerns in the west Chatham city. Nestled between Interstate 95 and Interstate 16, the city has become a popular stop for commuters and transient guests. Some of those transient guests choose to make their stay in Pooler a permanent one, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And more people inside the city limits spurs an opportunity for criminal activity. The majority of crimes in Pooler have included prostitution and child victimization, speeding, driving under the influence and other traffic violations.

When you look at Pooler, we get 70,000 cars a day going down I-95, and we get 30,000 a day going down 16, Revenew said. We have 11,000 Gulfstream workers pass through for lunch. Our transient population is huge.

Growth and centralization

In 2010, about 19,000 people called Pooler home, according to the U.S Census Bureau. By 2015, the citys population increased 21.1 percent to 23,133 residents.

Its a wave of rapid growth that brought a slew of new hotels, restaurants, retail shops, automobile dealerships and medical facilities and spurred a new 51,500-square-foot city hall building and matching municipal complex.

Look at how the city of Pooler and how its grown we needed (the city hall) to grow, Mayor Mike Lamb said in a March 31 Savannah Morning News article. We needed to do something, not just for a quick fix but for the next 50, 100 years.

City officials and other west Chatham dignitaries broke ground on the facility in July 2015. And about two years later, the new three-story city hall and adjoining municipal courtroom was completed, outfitted with offices for city and a new location for the city police department staffed with about 50 officers.

The police departments headquarters had been located in shopping centers for three decades. But with the city rapidly growing, it was time for things to change, Revenew said.

A lot of people dont realize that it was strategically decided to put us central to the city (here at the new city hall), he said. We have new Pooler with the Parkway, semi-new Pooler with the Pine Barren area and Old Pooler. So this puts us in a central location. ... Plus it makes us more efficient. If I need something from, say, finance I just walk upstairs. It gives us secured parking and it looks professional. It makes our evidence room that more secure. And its easier for city leaders to come to the department if they need anything. The communication is so much more streamlined.

Pooler Crime

With a large transient population passing in and out of the city, its easy for crime to make its way to Pooler, according to Revenew.

People all flock into Savannah to work and come back home, he said. People come from Effingham and Richmond and even Hardeeville to frequent Pooler. Unfortunately, that means that they come here to commit crimes too. I presented a report a while back and about 70 percent of the arrests we make for shoplifting are people who arent from Pooler.

Among those coming to commit crimes are people engaging in illicit sexual activity. The police department said it made 15 arrests for prostitution between 2015 and 2017, and thats an issue Revenew says his department is tackling aggressively.

The two things we are super aggressive and proactive about is child pornography/victimization and these vice crimes, he said. Because what happens is being our locale on 95 is a lot of these prostitutes travel. Theyll come here for a week but we dont want them staying a day. People still look at it as a victim-less crime But we see the secondary crimes. They dont. They just think its harmless.

The police department often partners with Savannah-Chatham police and other municipality police departments to help combat crime, he said.

We want to hear that we make it uncomfortable for them to commit crimes here.

Previous prostitution busts in the city have also uncovered substances and other items associated with drug use and distribution, and those arrests have been helped by the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics team. A 2015 bust at the Econo Lodge on U.S. 80 also resulted in human trafficking and weapon possession charges.

The Savannah Morning News made a request for a complete report of violent crime statistics from the Pooler Police Department, but that data was not yet available. The FBIs most recent report from 2014 showed 40 violent crimes and 620 property crimes including burglary, vehicle theft and larceny theft. After 2014, the FBI changed its reporting practices to focus on a metropolitan statistical area report, which is now put out by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Subdivision speeding

But prostitution isnt the only growing crime in Pooler. Theres the issue of drivers going too fast through the city dubbed as one giant subdivision. Tanger Outlets has increased traffic flow, which will also soon be affected at the other end of Pooler Parkway with the building of a new micro-hospital that will serve communities in west Chatham.

We get more complaints that we dont do enough enforcement for speeding than we do too much, Revenew said. People get really aggravated when cars fly through their neighborhood, but we have 100 neighborhoods over 700 streets, so its really difficult to make everybody happy.

And with the recent fatalities on the Interstates in Pooler, slowing drivers down is a priority for Revenew and his officers.

With those 15 fatalities on 16, it is very important to us. We had the five nursing students killed, another five killed in a fiery crash and another five killed in a head-on collision along that three-mile stretch, he said.

... A lot of people think its a victimless crime, but its much more than that. Just a few weeks ago, we stopped a girl doing 107 with marijuana edibles in her car. She admitted she was going to sell them at Orange Crush. But you have to think, we dont know if they are safe, whether she used the right amount of THC, whether they were made in a sterile environment, plus someone going 107 on a highway colliding with grandma whos doing 60 its a disaster.

But Poolers bordering of multiple cities makes for a unique partnership to help address the growing issues, Revenew said.

The city shares limits with Bloomingdale, Garden City and Savannah and the Pooler Police Department frequently calls on its brothers in blue to help across jurisdiction lines.

Back after the crash in 2007, grants dried up and budgets dried up, he said. It pushed us to working together. We have to work together. We have to be more efficient. We dont have the resources we had 10 years ago and that made us come the table and say How can we help each other? and so by sharing our resources we complement each other.

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'Streamlined' operation helps Pooler tackle transient crimes, traffic issues - Savannah Morning News