GREENVILLE — Brethren Retirement Community residents spent Friday morning enjoying coffee, donuts, and conversation with members of the Greenville Police Department before taking part in an informative presentation on current scam trends and practical ways to stay protected.
Held in the Brick Room of the BRC Main Building, the “Coffee & Conversation with the Greenville Police Department” event gave residents an opportunity to connect with local officers in an informal setting, ask questions, and learn how to better recognize and avoid scams.
Residents gathered for easy conversation with officers before the presentation turned to crime prevention, with Greenville Police Chief Ryan Benge sharing practical guidance and stressing the importance of reaching out before taking action when something feels suspicious.
“BRC handled a lot of the internal advertisement, and it went really well,” said Greenville Police Chief Ryan Benge. “I am always available, as well as Detective Hawes.”
Benge told residents that acting quickly can make the difference between avoiding a scam and becoming a victim.
“If you are ever in doubt or something doesn’t feel right, call us before you click that link or make that payment — just call us, and we can help you through it as much as we can, or we can get you in contact with someone who can,” said Chief Benge. “Once that money is gone, it’s gone, and the prosecution of these cases is really tough because it’s hard to track down the individual doing it, so you are just out of money.”
Benge said the department’s goal is to stop scams before they happen, rather than responding after victims have already lost money.
“We want to prevent scams before they happen,” Benge said. “We get these cases and as we get them or read through them, it’s a nightmare for us because we know it’s probably too late, we’re behind the eight ball — that’s why we’re doing these presentations.”
The chief said the Greenville Police Department plans to continue offering proactive educational programs, while also adjusting future presentations to match changing crime trends.
“Next year we’re going to switch gears and go to a different kind of crime prevention presentation,” said Chief Benge. “I’m not sure yet what that is, we’ll look at the crime trends to what we’re seeing a lot to protect citizens and be proactive in the crime prevention approach. We’ll monitor those trends. If there is something out there different — scams will evolve between now and next year and we have to change that up, but we are going to try and do more proactive things like this.”
Benge said the event was valuable not only to residents but also to law enforcement, as officers gained insight into the concerns and experiences shared during the discussion.
“Everybody here at BRC walked away with something today, maybe they didn’t know,” said Chief Benge. “I think it was good. Even the residents here were sharing information with us, things we hadn’t seen, so it wasn’t just us giving out information. We were getting information too, so it is exactly what I want, because we are on a different side of it. This was good.”
“We don’t know everything, we’re not naive to that fact — we see the law enforcement side of it, we don’t always see what the community is directly,” Benge added. “The back and forth here today was excellent and we’re going to take that back and learn from it and get better as law enforcement.”
BRC leaders said the program served as an important resource for residents, staff, and families.
“For our entire community, our residents, our staff, families, today we heard really important information for awareness and knowledge because knowledge is power on what is currently happening,” said Kara Allread, BRC Senior Vice President and CAO. “The partnership with our Greenville Police Department is so important and truly appreciated. There was a great turnout today, and we’re looking forward to having the Greenville Police Department back in the future to continue these educational opportunities for our residents.”
John L. Warner, BRC President and CEO, said the event reflected the value of the partnership between BRC and the Greenville Police Department and addressed concerns especially relevant to older adults.
“We are grateful for the Greenville Police Department and all their fine work in our community, the broader community of Greenville, and for the services they provide for us at BRC as well,” said Warner. “We felt that this would be a very valuable program for our residents and our neighbors to come and hear about how they are so vulnerable to many of the scams that are being perpetrated by people who want to separate them from their money.”
Warner encouraged residents to report potential scams either to the BRC front desk or directly to the Greenville Police Department.
“We encourage our residents if they are aware of a potential scam to let us know or certainly they can call the Greenville Police Department,” said Warner. “They may be able to help someone else not be a victim of that scam.”
Warner also noted the retirement community remains a no-solicitation community, a policy designed to help protect residents and reduce unwanted contact.
“We’ve had that policy in place for a number of years, and it is a way that we can add protection and, quite frankly, not have our residents inconvenienced by something they may not want to either buy or participate in,” Warner said.
The event left residents better informed and more confident in spotting warning signs, proving that many came for the coffee but left a little wiser.
