Missoula Crime Report: Importance of Reporting Dangerous Driving

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Missoula County Attorney’s Office filed 15 new felony complaints this week, which is two fewer than last week and right around the weekly average. County Attorney Matt Jennings was happy that that number wasn’t higher. 

“Sometimes on these holiday weekends we see a real uptick in things like DUIs and partner or family member assaults, but it seems like folks were pretty well behaved this year and we are really happy to see that,” Jennings said. “Inevitably, we do see a lot of DUIs over the 4th of July weekend, and a couple of them this week were called in by other drivers on the road. I just wanted to take a second to thank the people who are observing that dangerous driving behavior and taking a moment to call 911.” 

If you see something, say something. Jennings said it could save a life. 

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“These were both incidents on highways, so at highway speeds,” Jennings said. “One of them was a DUI 5th, and another one was a DUI 6th. So it's really great to get that help from members of the community. Unfortunately, we have been seeing a little uptick in violent crimes. That has grown as a percentage of the overall crimes that we've been filing. That 4th of July week, we had nine violent felonies, and then this week we had five.” 

Drug Crimes Continue to be a Problem

This week, there were three endangerment crimes, three property crimes, and three drug crimes. Jennings said there were three drug crimes last week as well.  

“Those are a little bit higher than we've been seeing,” Jennings said. “When people are only getting charged with drug offenses and there isn't something else going on, so they didn't hurt somebody or they didn't steal something, our focus is on rehabilitation, and it's trying to get them drug abuse treatment. We try to get them into an inpatient or outpatient treatment program and make sure they're not escalating that behavior into something more dangerous out of despair or because of needing to feed their addiction.” 

READ MORE: Missoula News – Crime Reports 

Jennings said some folks don’t think the criminal justice system is a way to deal with that issue. 

“Ultimately, if people are willing to voluntarily get help on their own, that's the best,” Jennings said. “But some people can't. You get really stuck in that cycle of addiction. I am really proud of our criminal justice system for being one tool to get people back on their feet when they can't do it themselves.” 

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’ full report below: