Property crime on the rise in Flathead County

A door ajar, personal belongings rummaged through, valuables missing — property crime is a violation of privacy and security, and it is on the rise in Flathead County.

In the first 10 days of October, 104 thefts were reported to the four law enforcement agencies in the county.

According to law enforcement leaders, that number is evidence of what has been a growing trend of minor property crimes, most often thefts from unlocked vehicles.

“As far as property crimes go, we’ve certainly had an increase, and whether or not you want to tie that to the economic downturn is somewhat academic,” said Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry, whose department has received 48 of the 104 reports of theft. “We’ve actually, just in the last probably six to eight weeks, seen a large increase in smaller property crimes. We’ve had a huge increase in thefts from vehicles.”

Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset agreed, saying his department, which received 40 of the 104 theft reports, was seeing the same phenomenon. In particular, Nasset noted increases in thefts from vehicles, break-ins to vehicles and shoplifting.

Although recent arrests have helped the situation in Whitefish — where 12 of the 104 theft reports were received — Police Chief Bill Dial said property crimes also have been higher than in the past.

Even in Columbia Falls, whose police department logged only four of the 104 theft reports, Police Chief David Perry said an increase is visible.

“Over the last couple years we’ve seen an increase in carhopping — people walking around neighborhoods just checking for unlocked vehicles,” Perry said. “Those are hard to detect because they aren’t using any kind of force to break into a vehicle.”

Several factors make such crimes more difficult to address and solve. According to Nasset, the crimes usually take place in the dark, on a dark street or in an alley; the target is usually an unlocked vehicle and they take very little time to perpetrate.

“Generally there are no witnesses, it is a crime that takes mere seconds to commit, and almost never is there evidence left behind,” Nasset said. “To solve a case like this, it’s happenstance that an officer will come across them or they will pawn something that’s been stolen so we can track them back to the offenses, or we’ll have an alert citizen that will notice that their light has been tripped outside and they’ll call us and say something’s going on.”

Pawn shops are a common venue for thieves to unload stolen merchandise — so long as they can convince shop owners that the items are not stolen. To combat that, each of the four law enforcement departments maintain contact with pawn shops in the valley.

The Sheriff’s Office has a detective who, among other duties, is tasked with checking pawn shops on a regular basis. Curry said they have had good luck with shop owners, who have been very responsible. Perry and Dial said their departments also have a good rapport with the owners.

Nasset, however, tempered his praise of shop owners’ willingness to assist law enforcement with a desire for their efforts to improve.

“We’ve found incidents where we feel like the pawn shop could have done a better job not taking stolen property, but we also feel like they’ve certainly been willing to work with us when we do locate something that’s been stolen,” he said.

Nasset pointed out another twist, also noted by Curry, in tracking stolen items received by pawn shops. He said when sporadic, low-item, unrelated thefts occur, the stolen property often will change hands back and forth among thieves for drugs and weapons. When larger thefts or strings of thefts occur, the items often are transported outside the valley, ending up in the Tri-cities area in Washington, Spokane or the greater Washington-Idaho region.

“It does create an issue for us to track it, but quite often those agencies [outside the state] and quite a few of the agencies in Montana, if they have nonlocals pawning stuff, they’ll send a pawn slip to us and ask ‘does this raise any red flags for you?’” Nasset said.

One of the most recent successes by local law enforcement agencies in their attempts to stem the flow of property crime came in August, when Whitefish police officers apprehended Colton Donsbach, 20, and Dustin Donsbach, 19, a pair of brothers suspected in a theft spree. The two were caught after a special detail was set up following a rash of vehicle burglaries. Another alleged theft crew was arrested two weeks later.

“Since we’ve taken those crews down I think [property crime] has gone down considerably in Whitefish and down in the county,” Dial said. “We think those two crews were probably responsible for around 150 of the car break-ins and other burglaries.”

Other departments also have made changes to deal with the rising tide of property crime. The Columbia Falls Police Department has instituted additional surveillance shifts, while the Kalispell Police Department has increased its motorcycle and bicycle patrols in residential areas.

Despite the upswing in property crime in the county, all four law enforcement department heads said residents can drastically cut their chances of becoming a victim and at the same time aid police efforts to control the crimes by simply locking their vehicles, locking their doors and keeping valuables out of sight.

Curry said residents need to accept the fact that this is not the county it was 50 years ago.

“You hear a lot of ‘oh, I’ve never locked my house, I’ve never locked my car, I shouldn’t have to,’ and perhaps that’s true. It’s a nice sentiment, but in not just protecting yourself from property crime but protecting yourself from any crime, it’s good not to be a target,” Curry said. “Lock your cars. Don’t leave your iPod laying on your dashboard, your camera laying on your seat, your purse visible, a wallet visible, GPS, guns. I mean, the things that people have in their unlocked cars amazes me.”

Nasset said those basic precautions often are effective because his department has found most thieves aren’t willing to break windows or do other things to force entry because it would bring attention.

A less often considered suggestion was posed by Dial, who cautioned residents to think about what they post on social networking sites such as Facebook and avoid posting when they will be away from home. He also suggested people write down or photograph the serial numbers of newly purchased items such as firearms, televisions, GPS systems, digital cameras and other valuables to make tracking and locating the items easier if they are stolen.

Most of all, the chiefs said their departments want to hear from residents. Even if the attempted crime was unsuccessful, information on where and when thieves are striking can guide the allocation of their efforts.

“We’ll have people say ‘I knew something was up last night, I saw a neighbor’s light come on’ or ‘I heard a dog bark and I thought to look out the window and I didn’t,’” Nasset said. “Just be a little more mindful and protective of your stuff and your neighbor’s stuff and don’t hesitate to call. A lot of people say ‘Well I didn’t want to bother you because you’re busy,’ but we like those calls. It gets us back into the neighborhoods looking, and quite often if they think something is up, it is.”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.