01/06/09

"Historically whenever we have a down turn in the economy we see increases in a couple of areas; property crime in terms of theft. We also tend to see more crimes in the home. That being domestic violence and child abuse," said Captain Matt Hicks of the Twin Falls Police Department.

It still remains to be seen how bad things will get for 2009 and the Twin Falls Police Department is preparing for a slight change in crime. Looking back on 2008 according to Hicks, there was a slight rise of a certain crime.

"We are seeing a slight rise in violent crime that is battery and aggravated assault...obviously the most common reason we associate with a slight rise in violent crime is the economy. While we haven't seen a rise in crime as of yet we're cautiously optimistic that will change," he said.

KMVT spoke with local economist Jan Roeser to get a glimpse of what 2009 will look like specifically for the Magic Valley. Typically the area has been able to stay away from national and even state trends.

Roeser says, "We anticipate we will continue to buck the trends."

she says one crucial element that will recharge the economy is jobs, and even though some have lost jobs in the Magic Valley, there will be some available this year with the new Wal–Mart opening.

Roeser goes on to say that, "We also have a lot of manufacturing production type jobs that are coming on board the next six months, we're having a new school come on board, the hospital will be coming on in the next months."

Rosier says the Magic Valley saw a one and a half percent increase in job creation in the 2nd quarter. She says it may be small but it does count. Overall Roeser says the Magic Valley should be able to weather the economic storm of 2009.

Crime wise Captain Hicks says Twin Falls has seen a steady drop of 27 percent since 2004 and it is expected to continue.

He says, "We’re approaching a 30 percent reduction in crime since that time frame so we're obviously very excited about that."