Crime stats show city is a safe place

Crime statistics provided by the state of Idaho and the FBI show that "Mountain Home is still the safest place in Idaho to live," according to Police Chief Tom Berry.

But, he said, even though the crime stats show little or no increase, and in some cases a decline, in most major crime categories, he still remains concerned.

"We're doing our best to stay on top of things," he said, but there is a "ripple effect" as the nearby Boise metropolitan area grows that is starting to impact the Mountain Home community.

"We are definitely impacted by the larger communities," he said, noting that some of the new residents moving into the city are bringing drug and crime problems with them.

"When we look at the drug arrests we're making, at lot of them are people that have just moved here. I think that shows that our anti-drug programs in the schools are having an effect. We're not seeing as many 'home grown' problems."

Still, he said, drugs, especially methamphetamine, and alcohol, are contributing factors in a large number of crimes. Domestic disturbances, assault and battery cases, and a growing number of mental health commitments, "almost always have a significant drug or alcohol component to them."

"We can't warehouse the drug (and alcohol) problem," he said. "We could arrest someone every day, but it won't solve the problem.

"We need more local treatment facilities" to deal with the psychological problems that can lead to drug and alcohol abuse, the police chief said, and more local drug and alcohol treatment programs.

"Most of those programs and facilities are in Boise, and a lot of people don't have the economic means to access them. They may be only 40 miles away, but if you don't have a car, or money for gas, that distance can be a world away."

Berry added that "I think our drug problem is worse than it's ever been," even though expanded cooperative investigations with other agencies in Idaho are resulting in growing numbers of arrests, especially for those delivering the drugs into the community.

Complacency is another problem. In Mountain Home, people often brag that they live in a town where they don't have to lock their cars or their homes.

"A lot of our crimes are crimes of opportunity," Berry said, noting it is rare for a theft from a vehicle or residence to be the result of forced entry. "Usually, somebody's just left their car unlocked, and someone grabs whatever they can get.

"If people would just take common practices of security, locking their homes, their cars, it would cut down on these cases significantly," he said.

"People need to be vigilant. If they see something that doesn't seem right, call us. No call is too small. We'd rather get a call and have it turn out to be nothing, than not get a call and wind up investigating some crime.

"Be a participant in your neighborhood," he advised. "Know your neighbors and help keep an eye out for them."

In fact, he said, many people in Mountain Home do just that, and that's one of the key reasons why the crime rate is so low.

"I think it's a combination of our community policing policy, and people giving us information.

"When people take part in crime prevention, crime goes down. It's just that simple."

Another factor that has helped authorities keep the lid on crime locally is the fact that he's been able to retain his officers, due to better wages and benefits provided by the city council. "That means more experienced people in the field. My officers, most of them, have been here long enough they know what to look for. They know who the bad guys are. They keep an eye on them."

When Berry became police chief over a decade ago, police were clearing about 19 percent of the reported cases. With the adoption of his community policing programs, more cases were reported, but the clearance rate also increased. Last year, police solved 37 percent of the crimes reported. "We've been better than that," Berry said. "One year we hit 44 percent."

Larceny led all categories of crime, amounting to about a quarter, 326, of all the 1,253 cases reported to police in 2003. The year before, there had been 366 larcenies out of a total of 1,214 crimes reported. About a third of those cases were cleared in 2002. This year, the number fell to 21 percent. But, he noted, "sometimes, you can arrest one guy, and it can clear half your burglaries for you."

Aggravated assaults were down from 32 in 2002 to 21 in 2003, and a similar decrease was seen in cases of simple assaults and assaults by intimidation.

Vandalism cases were up sharply, from 211 in 2002 to 290 in 2003, most the result of two major vandalism sprees that occured in the city last year.

Drug cases were up, in all categories (including parephrenalia) by about 20 percent, climbing to 63 cases for drug/narcotic violations and 72 cases for drug equipment/parephrenalia. "That's always a growth industry," Berry said, but he'll be asking for more overtime money in his budget to let officers spend more time on those cases.

Overall, Berry said, there were few serious crimes in Mountain Home during 2003, and the overall crime rate showed a growth that was consistent with, or a little less than, the overall city growth.