Concerns Over Rising Drug Crimes and Violent Offenses in Missoula

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Missoula County Attorney’s Office filed 13 new felony complaints this week, which is one less than last week and right around the weekly average. Even though there wasn’t a big case load, County Attorney Matt Jennings said there were a handful of violent crimes this week. 

“We did have a couple of violent offenses involving firearms this week,” Jennings said. “That is something that we always flag because of the potential death or serious bodily injury. We had four violent crimes against persons. We didn't have any endangerment crimes. Usually in that category, we would include things like felony DUI, that's somebody having four or more driving under the influences, or criminal endangerment, which often also involves driving behavior like a high-speed chase. We didn't have any this week, so that's kind of nice.” 

In addition, there were two property crimes with one being a robbery. 

“We had seven drug crimes,” Jennings said. “On a week to week basis, we continue to have quite a struggle in our community with meth and fentanyl. With the rise of fentanyl, heroine has all but disappeared from our streets because of its cost and difficulty obtaining it. But we just continue to find a lot of folks with fentanyl on their persons. We take that really seriously because we continue to see overdoses and people having their lives completely ruined by it. Either out of despair or altering brain chemistry, it often leads to other criminal behavior.” 

Jennings said his office tries to take a specific approach when it comes to drug addiction. 

READ MORE: Missoula News - Crime Reports

“We do try to approach addiction issues in a rehabilitative manner because we often know that if we can get folks to stop consuming drugs and alcohol to the degree that they are, they often commit fewer offenses, they don't act out violently, and they don't steal things,” Jennings said. “We have accountability and we sometimes have punishment, but we also really focus on rehabilitation knowing that that can make a big difference.” 

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office provides a weekly crime report every Friday morning at 9:00 on Talk Back. You can listen to Jennings’s full report below: