Latest Missoula Crime Report: Fewer Felonies, More Drug Issues

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Missoula County Attorney’s Office filed 12 new felony complaints this week, which is nine fewer than last week and lower than the weekly average. County Attorney Matt Jennings provided this week’s report.

“We had three violent crimes and two endangerment crimes, which both involved drinking and driving with children being put at risk,” Jennings said. “We only had one property crime, which is great. We had six drug crimes. Last week we had 10 and the week before that we had five. These are almost all methamphetamine, and we've been seeing a dip in that for quite a while, but we've had a real uptick over the last few weeks.”

Jennings said that getting in trouble with drugs in Missoula usually means something else is going on.

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“It is really rare that somebody is found randomly out in public with drugs,” Jennings said. “Almost all of these are associated with somebody being passed out at the wheel or committing a theft and having drugs on them. We had one where somebody had dangerous driving behavior. It ended up not being a DUI, but there were drugs visible in the car.”

Usually, when you're seeing a possession case getting charged, Jennings said they’re really trying to target the criminal activity that drugs contribute to, not necessarily the use in and of itself.

“We see a lot of people struggle with addiction, and we've got all types of great programs trying to encourage people to voluntarily get some help,” Jennings said. “Sometimes it's involuntary, but we have a lot of success in that addiction treatment. When somebody's getting in trouble for drugs, it's not as punitive as it used to be. We're really focused on getting them cleaned up and returning to be a positive member of society.”