Crime in Idaho: Why one area of crime isn’t following the overall downward trend

Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — As a whole, crime in Idaho has seen a decrease over the last year, continuing a trend from 2020.

“Violent crimes against people, the assaults, the battery, those sorts of things, they’re all going down, which is a good sign,” said Lieutenant Robert Rausch of the Idaho State Police.

There’s one area that ISP says is not following the overall downward trend; crimes against society, in other words, drug crimes.

“We still have a lot of problems with the fentanyl issues and folks being addicted to substances. And so those kinds of things are on the rise,” said Rausch.

We combed through the numbers, and according to the report from ISP, reported drug violations rose just over 8% since 2020. Nationwide, overdose deaths crested just over 100,000 nationwide, according to Rausch.

“Not only is it a very addictive substance, but it’s a very powerful substance. And so people get to where they’ll do things for this drug that maybe they wouldn’t do for other things,” Rausch said.

So what is the Idaho State Police doing to combat this problem? Rausch says a lot of resources are going into education.

“We have troopers and detectives in other groups, from other agencies that are working with communities, talking and trying to spread the word to them,” he said.

Knowing the symptoms of overdoses and distributing Narcan are among the educational resources being spread. But what about enforcement?

“We have our inter-diction units which go out looking for the transportation of these drugs,” said Rausch.

With all of these efforts being put forth, Rausch says the police and the community must come together to combat the issue.

“You cannot arrest your way out of this problem. We’re looking with mental health because sometimes folks with mental health issues will self-medicate, we’re working with our partners in the business world, in the faith world trying to just bring the culture of the community to bear on this problem,” Rausch said.

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