The Horry County Police Department in 2022 saw a five-year high in service calls, though violent crime rates are steadily declining.

“Our main goal is to reduce the fear of crime and crime. A lot of people are concerned about crime because they look at national television or the local news and it drives their fear, but we live in a very safe community,” Chief Joseph Hill told the county council’s public safety committee Feb. 14.

In all, his 303-officer agency responded to 141,449 incidents — up nearly 9% from 2018 rates.

Hill said steady population increases — reports show Horry County is growing faster than anywhere else in South Carolina — are a contributing factor to the uptick.

However, so-called “part one” crimes, including arson, assault, burglary, murder and theft, dropped just more than 7% year-over-year, with 4,370 calls in 2022 compared to 5,933 in 2021.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division reported arrests in Horry County — which includes data from all its agencies — totaled 18,233 in 2021 compared to 18,380 in 2020.

Countywide statistics for 2022 weren’t immediately available.

“It’s about population growth, it’s about the attraction. Everybody wants to come to the beach, and so with that folks come down here and they decide to stay,” Hill said. “I don’t want our community to see our law enforcement as an imposing force; I want them to see us as partners.”

Hill’s comments and the data he provided to county leaders on Tuesday mirror a trend happening in Horry County’s most well-known city.

In November, Myrtle Beach police said violent and property crime rates have dropped by a quarter since 2017.

Hill said his department fielded 716 applications last year, and the agency is preparing to staff up ahead of a fifth precinct opening.

In 2021, the county spent $2 million to purchase land at the corner of River Oaks and International drives in Carolina Forest with plans to build a $25 million government complex to include a fifth precinct staffed by 42 people.

“We will not hire anyone in the Horry County Police Department who’s not qualified to wear the badge, we just won’t. We’ll work short or we’ll work the street ourselves before we put somebody behind that badge who is not qualified to wear it,” Hill said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, an officer struck by shrapnel during a Jan. 29 standoff with a barricaded man at a Surfside Beach motel is recovering from his injuries. The man, who was involved in an exchange of gunfire with police, died during the incident.

“I’m happy to say, he’s recovering well,” Hill told WMBF News. “I keep in contact with him, you know it’s a very scary situation for our police officers as it is across the county when these incidents occur but he’s doing well and he’s well supported.”