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Report: Crime up in Havre

Crime is up in Havre, with the largest jump being in the number of cases of theft and larceny, a report from the the FBI says.

Havre Police Chief Gabe Matosich revealed the numbers Monday night when he presented Havre City Council with an annual update of the police department.

The numbers are from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report look at crime rates in 2015. A pamphlet distributed by Matosich showed both the numbers of crimes in Havre from 2015 and 2014.

Figures show that the area of criminal activity with the largest jump was in reports of larceny-theft, which totaled 368 in 2015, compared to 282 in 2014. Cases of individuals driving under the influence of intoxicants hit 97, up from 70 in 2014. Incidents of aggravated assault went up from 31 in 2014 to 48 in 2015. There were 33 motor vehicle thefts in 2015, up from 20 the year before.

The pamphlet showed that the number of rapes in Havre increased from 14 in 2014 to 20 in 2015. The pamphlet says there was a slight uptick in burglaries from 33 in 2014 to 35 in 2015. The number of robberies rose from one in 2014 to three in 2015.

The pamphlet showed that in two areas did crime fell: arson and homicide. Havre saw one case of arson in 2015 compared to four in 2014. In 2015 there were no reported homicides in Havre, compared to one in 2014.

The report listed 1501 total reported criminal offenses in 2015, up from 1340 in 2014, the pamphlet said,

Total arrests surged to 1713 in 2015 from 1011 the year before, the pamphlet says. A total of 23,038 calls were taken by the dispatcher in 2015, an increase from the 22,651 calls in 2014.

Matosich said that the police department received several grants this year. These include the justice assistance grant, which comes from the Department of Justice, Matosich said the grant helps with the purchasing and upgrading equipment.

Havre Police have also received money from the Select Traffic Enforcement Program, or STEP, also through the Department of Justice. Matosich said the money allows the department to pay additional overtime patrols during holidays or large community events. He said officers on these patrols look to curb the number of DUIs and enforce seatbelt laws.

Through a Bureau of Justice Assistance grant, the station was able to purchase ballistic vests for officers.

Matosich said that Havre also received a grant through the U.S Department of Justice’s COPS program for a school resources officer in Havre School District 16.

The number of disturbances and amount of criminal activity has gone down in the district since the department has had a school resources officer at the school, Matosich said.

  The officer patrols the school and interacts with both students and faculty on a daily basis to foster a safe learning environment.

Matosich said that Officer Josh Holt, the school resource officer for the district, also attended an international conference of resource officers in July, where he obtained his advance school officers certificate.

Holt also now serves as vice president of the Montana SRO Association, a newly formed organization that aims to bring together resource officers throughout the state.

Matosich said the department also made several purchases of and upgrades to police equipment in 2016.

The equipment purchased includes a new wireless download system for dashboard cameras in police cars. Matosich said the system enables all the video on the dash cams to be wirelessly downloaded onto the department’s server.

He said the new system allows officers to upload the video without having to use hard drives or thumb drives.

The department also purchased six new radars for the department’s police vehicles, replacing outdated equipment that was more than 15 years old, Matosich said.

A new police car was purchased by the department, which is also planning on ordering another. Matosich said the new vehicles are meant to replace the department’s aging fleet.

He said that the department added three probationary police officers, one of whom is Officer Tanner Donovan, a former Hill County deputy sheriff, who was sworn in during Monday night’s meeting.

In other business, the Havre City Council unanimously voted to approve the first reading of an ordinance annexing 14 properties West of Havre,

The second and final reading of the ordinance will take place Dec 19.

City Council President Andrew Brekke said the city received a petition signed by all affected property owners, with the exception of NorthWestern Energy.

Brekke said there were several objections made by the signatories, but the city has met all of its legal requirements.

Brekke said that of those signatories, Security National Porperties, which owns the Holiday Village Mall, and CP Properties, which owns the AmericInn, had more than one objection.

 

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