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Despite spike in crime rate, city, county still safe place to live
The crime rate dropped slightly in the state -- by 0.9 percent compared to 2006 -- but increased by 22.8 percent in the city of Mountain Home.
"If you look at the small picture, you might think, 'The world must be coming down on us'," Police Chief John Walter said. "But last year was probably the lowest (crime rate in the city) in the last 20 years."
The Idaho State Police's 2007 Crime in Idaho Report shows the Mountain Home Police reported 1,076 offenses for the year 2007. In 2006, 876 were reported compared to the 1,090 reported in 2005. According to the department's records, those three numbers are the lowest in the city in at least the last ten years, meaning crime has actually decreased recently when compared to an average of 1,156 offenses a year over the last ten years.
"Mountain Home is still an unbelievably safe place to live," Walter said.
It appears Mountain Home might be a safer place to live now than it was ten years ago. In 1998, 1,110 offensives were reported when Mountain Home had a population of approximately 10,000. With a population of approximately 14,250 in 2007, 1,076 were reported.
Vandalism was the most reported crime, accounting for nearly 28 percent of all crimes.
Walter attributed that to several factors. He said most acts of vandalism are carried out by a small number of repeat offenders and citizens do a good job of reporting the vandalism they see. He said the department files a report regardless of how big or small the act might be, something that may not be done at all departments in the state.
"If I have to have a 'crime problem,' this is a good one to have, but it doesn't mean we don't want to see those numbers smaller," Walter said. "That's money someone's going to have to pay."
The number of frauds reported more than doubled from 2006 and was considerably higher than at any point in the last ten years. Walter said tough economic times always contribute to crimes like fraud and larceny, which was also up from 2006 but lower than any other point in the last ten years.
The Mountain Home Police Department takes a lot of reports from that area that a lot of other departments wouldn't, Walter said.
For example, a few weeks ago an airman deployed to Iraq from Mountain Home Air Force Base notified them of fraudulent charges to his account made in London. His credit card company wouldn't help him get the charges removed without first seeing a police report.
Walter said most departments wouldn't have filed a report because the incident occurred in London and the card holder is in Iraq.
"The last thing we want to do is throw a stumbling block in their (the citizen's) path," he said.
The department took the report from a family member then sent it to the appropriate authorities.
"It doesn't help us statistically but I think it's still the right thing to do," Walter said.
The most encouraging number to Walter was the number of burglaries that occurred in Mountain Home -- 34. Though that is one less than 2006 it is considerably lower than any other point in the last ten years and only a third of the number that were reported in 2000.
Walter called that "spectacular" and said much of the credit for that comes from neighbors watching neighbors, in addition to people looking out for themselves and making it harder for thefts to occur by locking their doors and taking other preventive actions.
The 39 violent crimes reported accounted for 3.6 percent of all crimes reported. The state counts murder (0), negligent manslaughter (0), forcible rape (7), robbery (2) and aggravated assault (30) as violent crimes. Aggravated assault includes displaying a weapon in a threatening manner, not necessarily using it.
The police department cleared 278 cases last year, or 25 percent of all reported offenses. A case is considered cleared once police have identified a suspect, or find a crime did not occur, or sent the case to the prosecutor's office.
"We always want to solve as many as we can, but the reality is, we can't solve all of them." Walter said. "Around the state and nation, most police stations would be happy to have a 25 percent clearance rate."
The police department's clearance rate is slightly higher than 2006's rate, despite having 200 more cases in 2007.
Walter said the increase from 2006 was due to a number of factors, most of them out of his control. He said the visibility of his officers and the department's proactive approach was just one piece of the puzzle and that neighbors helping neighbors was a big part of it.
"We constantly get calls from people who aren't afraid to call us," he said. "That's what I think is great about Mountain Home. We've sent the message 'call us if something doesn't look right'."