More people, more crime

By RALPH BARTHOLDT

Staff Writer

The number of murders reported in Kootenai County took a jump last year compared to the previous year, but the number of assaults and weapons violations dropped.

Statistics gathered by the Idaho State Police and compiled in the state’s annual crime report show numbers for all crimes in the county increased approximately 7 percent from 8,969 in 2015 to 9,610 last year.

Crime numbers were spread between reporting agencies in Coeur d’Alene, Rathdrum, Post Falls, Spirit Lake and the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.

The county’s population increased from 150,107 to 153,701 — a 2 percent increase — over the one-year reporting period.

According to the state report, the number of murders investigated by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office jumped from 1 to 6 between 2015 and 2016.

In the same period, the number of simple assaults reported in Kootenai County dropped from 1,448 to 1,400, and the number of weapon law violations dropped slightly from 111 to 92.

Because the statistics draw from police crime reporting data, seeing an increase isn’t always bad, said Coeur d’Alene Police Capt. Dave Hagar.

“Statistics can mean a lot of different things,” Hagar said. “Sometimes you want to them to be up. That shows that officers are going out and finding these things.”

The total number of offenses reported to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office increased by 8 percent, from 3,282 to 3,536 in the same timeframe.

By comparison, the number of cases reported to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department increased 6 percent from 3,586 to 3,813, according to the state, and the Post Falls Police Department saw a 3 percent increase in crime, from 1,707 to 1.759 cases.

Over the one-year period, the Sheriff’s Office reported three manslaughter cases, up from none the previous year.

Rape cases investigated by sheriff’s office detectives increased from 16 to 17. The sheriff’s office reported six robberies last year, the same as the year before. The number of reported drug cases investigated by the sheriff’s office rose slightly from 452 to 521 between 2015 and 2016, according to the state crime report.

Coeur d’Alene police reported one murder last year, the same as a year earlier, simple assaults in the city increased from 617 to 640 over the one-year period, and the number of weapon law violations dropped by one case, from 31 to 30.

Coeur d’Alene police investigated 444 drug cases, up from 421 a year earlier, and officers saw a rise in vandalism cases from 255 to 349. The number of reported rapes increased from 31 to 40 in the city over the one-year reporting period. Motor vehicle thefts increased from 87 to 92 and the number of robberies dropped from 21 to 13, according to the state.

In Post Falls, assaults dropped from 220 to 190, drug cases increased from 145 to 163, reported rapes fell from seven to six, and motor vehicle thefts increased from 26 to 39 between 2015 and 2016.

The Post Falls department reported no murders. It saw its biggest margin in weapons violations, which fell from 43 in 2015 to 19 in 2016.

Based on figures collected over the first two quarters of 2017, Hagar said he expects to see his department’s numbers decrease across the board in next year’s state crime report.

“It’s recognizing trends and trying to solve it and trying to prevent it,” Hagar said.

So far this year the department has logged a 23 percent decrease in victim-related criminal cases, he said.

Rathdrum police saw 60 assaults last year as compared to 51 a year earlier, vandalism increased from 33 reported cases in 2015 to 52 last year, larceny numbers jumped from 70 to 129 and the number of drug cases reported increased from 22 to 35.

In Spirit Lake, the number of vandalism cases increased from 11 to 20 over the two-year period, larceny cases increased slightly from 15 to 17, drug cases decreased from 17 to 13 and the number of simple assaults dropped from 20 to 15, according to the state crime report.