Violent crimes in Idaho decrease last year

COEUR d’ALENE — The number of violent crime offenses in Idaho decreased more than 10 percent last year compared with the year earlier, according to a state report released Friday.

Crime for the most part was down in Coeur d’Alene and Spirit Lake, while being up in Post Falls, though slightly. The city of Rathdrum and the area policed by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department also saw increases.

The crime rate dropped more than 2 percent, according to the “Crime in Idaho” report for 2010, completed by the Idaho State Police’s bureau of criminal identification.

There were 31 reported hate-crime incidents in the state last year, which is a drop of 11.4 percent.

The annual report is a breakdown of statewide crime statistics gathered from law enforcement agencies across Idaho.

In Coeur d’Alene, the number of criminal offenses in what’s called the “group A” category, which includes crimes like burglary, car theft, rape and assault, dropped 7.5 percent. Total arrests dropped 9.7 percent from 2009 to 2010.

Coeur d’Alene had 4,072 total group A offenses reported, and of those 1,264 were larceny and 691 were called simple assault. There were 447 cases of vandalism reported.

Motor vehicle theft dropped to 53 reported cases last year from 107 in 2009. Burglary and vandalism also are both way down last year compared with 2009.

Coeur d’Alene Police Department Det. Don Ashenbrenner said in 2009 the city had a rash of drug users who were stealing vehicles to perpetrate crimes.

Once the department busted those thieves, the car thefts dropped to a more normal level last year, he said.

“Fifty-three is a better representation of what we get,” he said.

About 10 to 15 people were largely responsible for the 2009 spike, Ashenbrenner said. They stole older vehicles that they only needed for a few days.

“They weren’t stealing very nice cars,” he said.

Criminal offenses increased by nearly 1 percent in Post Falls last year compared with 2009, while total arrests shrank 1.3 percent. Post Falls had 1,497 total offenses, compared with 1,484 in 2009, and 1,407 in 2008.

Post Falls had 505 reported cases of larceny and 215 cases of simple assault.

Reported aggravated assault cases dropped to 24 last year from 37 in 2009. Reported drug and narcotic cases jumped to 165 last year from 109 in 2009.

“Overall we’re really pleased with the crime statistics,” said Post Falls Police Chief Scot Haug.

The report said his office made arrests or solved nearly 60 percent of the cases.

The drug cases are up, in part, because illegal prescription drug use is increasing. There also are more drug cases because the department is cracking down more on those offenses.

“When you have more staff focusing on a particular problem, you see more cases,” Haug said.

He also blamed the increased drug cases on the weak economy.

“People are struggling right now,” he said. “People turn to drugs to cope with those problems.”

Rathdrum had an increase of 8.2 percent in reported criminal offenses, or 344 in 2010 compared with 318 in 2009. Both years are down from 367 reported offenses in 2008. Arrests were down 16.3 percent from 2009.

Reported offenses in Spirit Lake plunged 17.4 percent compared with the year earlier, and arrests were down 14.5 percent.

Outside the cities, in territory patrolled by the sheriff’s department, reported criminal offenses were up 5.3 percent and arrests were up 5 percent.

The most common reported offenses on the sheriff’s turf were larceny, with 774 cases; simple assault, with 448 cases; drugs and narcotics, with 372 reported cases; and burglary with 338 reported offenses.

In 2009, there were 708 reported cases of larceny, 358 simple assault, 274 drugs, and 395 burglary.

Overall for the county and cities, total reported offenses were down 1.7 percent from 2009.