Despite Island County Sheriff Mark Brown’s assertions to the contrary, South Whidbey residents insist the drug problem on the South End has reached “epidemic” proportions.

At a public meeting at the high school in Langley this week, a crowd of more than 70 people made it clear they feel heroin usage in the community is out of control, and that it’s the driver behind ongoing property crime.

“Don’t kid yourself that it’s not an epidemic,” said Carol Coble, owner of Carol’s Coffee Barn in Bayview. “The epidemic is heroin and it’s on Whidbey Island.”

Her stand has been broken into three times and she claims dealing is so common in the area that it’s happening in open view of the public.

“You can’t go grocery shopping at The Goose without seeing a drug deal happen,” she said, a statement that earned healthy applause throughout the room.

Byron MacDonald, who owns Country Girl Coffee in Freeland, agreed.

“Carol is right,” he said. “It’s ridiculously bad.”

“I could give you a list of 100 people [who are heroin users] on this island,” he added.

The two business owners and a host of other concerned South Whidbey residents gathered at the school’s commons Tuesday evening for a meeting about increased drug use and its link to residential and commercial burglaries. Organized by Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson, the gathering was also attended by a handful of county drug treatment specialists and elected public officials, including Brown. The sheriff acknowledged that while property crime on the South End is on the rise, it’s by no means skyrocketing and is consistent with the rest of the county.

“I don’t know if it’s in epidemic proportions, but it is happening,” he said, adding that he understands the problem is frustrating to crime victims.

“To you it is epidemic and we get that,” he added.

Over the past year, property crime has plagued the island, and its impact has been felt keenly on South Whidbey. Residential burglary has been an ongoing problem but several prominent businesses — Freeland Cafe, Neil’s Clover Patch Cafe and Cozy’s Roadhouse, to name a few — have been hit in recent months and then Wells Fargo in Clinton was robbed earlier this month.

Several people at the meeting expressed frustration that the problems continue to persist, and questioned the effectiveness of police tactics especially concerning the visible dealing. Park at one of the dealing hot spots and an officer won’t have to wait long for something to happen, people said.

Brown blamed a lack of resources as one of the problems; the department only has one detective for the entire county assigned to drug prevention. He added in a later interview that even if he had one of the two South End officers hang out in plain clothes and in an unmarked vehicle, they’d still be required to respond to emergency calls.

“I don’t want that officer responding in an old beat-up pickup truck to a high-speed chase,” Brown said.

Sgt. Laura Price, one of two South Whidbey deputies in attendance, spent time talking about burglary prevention methods, such as photographing items at home, and some of the challenges associated with solving property crime.

“I think one of the biggest misconceptions is information versus evidence,” Price said.

Tips are helpful and welcome, but they aren’t the same as being caught red-handed by police. Also, thieves have wised up and usually wear gloves, meaning fingerprints are hard or impossible to find. The same can’t be said for shoe prints, however.

“We catch a lot of people because they like a certain kind of shoe,” she said.

Price impressed that public vigilance and remembering details are extremely useful in capturing burglars. Don’t just report a suspicious car was red, she said, get its make, model and number and description of its occupants.

Langley Mayor Fred McCarthy, who also serves as chairman of the Island County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, talked specifically about drug use and its devastating impact. Some are outright deadly, he said.

“You only have to use them three times and they destroy and completely take over your life,” McCarthy said.

Addiction is the root of the problem and must be addressed; law enforcement is not the only answer, he said.

Several drug treatment representatives from Island County Human Services and the department’s hired treatment provider were in attendance and talked about addiction and options for those struggling with its effects.