ISP report again shows some mixed news

I must admit that I’m getting sick and tired of the non-stop political bashing I watch every single day in which those of certain political ideologies refuse to listen to those with different perspectives. It’s reached the point in which these political opponents are now calling for the assassination of those they disagree with – actions that should put all of these people in prison.

However, like always, none of the people making these threats will likely be held accountable. The reason? It’s because we have too many people in today’s society who feel immune to having to bear responsibility for their actions while working to persecute their opponents for committing these same violations.

After dealing with all this nonsense the past several days, I felt it was necessary to once again turn my attention to something a bit more optimistic. I refer to the yearly “Crime in Idaho” report released by the Idaho State Police.

While some people might look at this report and start to worry, it seemed the report once again showed some signs of cautious optimism. On a whim, I decided to go back a few years to compare the statistics from the report released earlier this month to the various crimes committed in Mountain Home and communities across Elmore County five to 10 years ago.

Clearly, a lot changed over the past decade. Despite the fact that Mountain Home and communities across the county continue to grow as more people choose to move here from out of state, it seems our law enforcement communities are doing everything they can to keep their citizens safe.

While the number of people arrested for driving under the influence over the past 10 years remained about the same, we definitely saw a noticeable drop in the number of people charged with assaulting others in our community. Back in 2015, for example, city police dealt with 234 cases of simple and aggravated assault with those numbers falling to 106 offenses in 2024.

Meanwhile, aggravated and simple assault incidents reported across parts of Elmore County saw a similar decline during this same time frame.

In addition, the sheriff’s office saw a nearly 15.4 percent increase in the number of arrests between 2023 and 2024. However, in Mountain Home that arrest rate fell by nearly 11 percent during this same time frame.

However, there were some crimes reported in the state police report that left me a bit worried. It involved the number of drug and narcotic violations that more than doubled over the past 10 years in Mountain Home with similar increases seen in parts of Elmore County.

The same holds true with regards to the number of arrests involving people caught possessing drug paraphernalia.

But what leaves me highly concerned involves the number of state lawmakers out there that don’t seem to care about the health and safety of their citizens. Instead, they are falling prey to allowing their voters to legally smoke marijuana, for example.

To date, nearly half of the states in our nation now allow their citizens to smoke pot, despite the amount of research conducted in recent years that proves how dangerous it is. This is especially true for those who get addicted to smoking it on a regular basis.

A 2023 study, for example, found that people who smoke marijuana every day face a 25 percent higher risk of getting hit with a heart attack compared to those who don’t use it. Meanwhile, a study released last year showed that people under the age of 55 that smoke pot remain at a 36 percent higher risk of dealing with the same potentially fatal medical condition.

So the question remains why these states allowed people to legally use pot despite this medical evidence. I suppose the reason all comes down to the fact that we have people out there that do everything they can to get people addicted to pot in addition to those who continue to get others hooked on cigarettes and alcohol.

Despite the dangers associated with these intoxicants, it seems those selling these products don’t seem to care about the health and welfare of those they get hooked.

After all, when their customers die after years of smoking and drinking, the people running these companies will simply get someone else hooked and addicted to what they sell so they can continue making money.

I would be remiss if I didn’t include the number of people addicted to more serious illegal drugs. During my time with the Mountain Home News, it’s pretty easy to tell how bad the drug problem gets based on the types of crime that get reported on a regular basis.

If you see more drug trafficking happening here, for example, you tend to see more reports involving homes and cars broken into or victims reporting that their property was stolen.

The reason? It’s because there are drug addicts out there stealing this property because they want money to continue supporting their habit.

That’s the problem with illegal drugs such as meth. It’s perhaps the most horrible form of narcotic to ever hit the streets. It can hook someone after just one “hit,” and the addiction often gets permanently embedded in the mind, body and soul of those now hooked on meth.

Looking at all of the people addicted to drugs in the United States due to the huge amount of illegal narcotics being smuggled across the southern border, I wonder what would happen if these drug dealers and drug cartels would do if this nation did something these cartels never saw coming.

After all, there’s something regarding these smuggling operations that today’s politicians have yet to answer: How much tax revenue are these drug dealers having to pay on every sale they make in our state and our nation?

The answer: Not one penny.

Perhaps that’s where we could finally nail these drug cartels once and for all. The next time one of them gets caught trying to sell meth and heroin in the United States, we might see something that resembles the dialogue from the animated film “Zootopia.”

The conversation between law enforcement and these drug dealers might sound a lot like this:

“Mr. Drug Dealer, you are under arrest!”

“For what? Hurting your feewings,” the drug dealer would say in a patronizing voice.

“Felony tax evasion. Yeeaah... 370 dollars a day, 365 days a year since you started selling these drugs – that’s two decades – so times 20 which is... two million, six hundred and eighty thousand… I think. I mean I am just a police officer, but we are good at multiplying. Anyway, according to your tax forms, you reported, let me see here, *zero*! Unfortunately, lying on a federal form is a punishable offense. Five years jail time.”

“Well it’s my word against yours,” the drug dealer would reply, convinced they were immune from any consequences of their actions. That’s when the police officer pulls the audio recorder from their pocket and plays back the exact words the drug dealer told the officer just a few seconds earlier.

“Actually, it’s your word against yours,” the officer would highlight. “And if you want to avoid spending the rest of your life in prison, you’re going to not only stop selling your illegal drugs, but you’re going to pay back all of the tax revenue you failed to cover every time you sold these drugs, or the only place you’ll spend the rest of your life is in solitary confinement.”

Then the officer then concludes these conversations by simply telling these drug dealers, “it’s called a hustle, sweetheart.”