MISSOULA, Mont. — The Missoula Police Department released its 2023 annual crime report.
NBC Montana combed through the report and highlighted some of the numbers from 2023.
In the patrol division for 2023:
- Traffic stops were up by over 1,200 traffic stops
- 8,807 traffic stops in 2022; 10,145 traffic stops in 2023
- Traffic crashes were down by almost 100 crashes
- 2,843 crashes in 2022; 2,742 crashes in 2023
- Disturbances increased by almost 100
- 1,746 disturbances in 2022; 1,840 disturbances in 2023
- Thefts remained steady at 1,787 reports, up a bit from the 1,722 in 2022
- Drugs ticked up by over 50
- 428 reports in 2022, to 505 reports in 2023
- Partner/Family Member Assaults were up by eight
- 290 assaults in 2022; 298 assaults in 2023
NBC Montana spoke with Missoula Assistant Police Chief Jake Rosling who shared the most concerning crime in terms of frequency in Missoula right now.
“Assaults, I mean those are calls we go to pretty frequently and things that greatly affect the quality of life in the city,” Assistant Chief Rosling said.
In 2023, the Missoula Police Department handled more than 56,000 calls for service, an increase of 4,000 calls when compared to 2022.
Here were the top ten;
- Theft: 166 calls
- Found Property: 125 calls
- DUI’s: 94 calls
- Assault: 87 calls
- Criminal Mischief: 74 calls
- Accident- hit and run: 72 calls
- Disorderly conduct: 69 calls
- Disturbances: 61 calls
- Trespassing: 45 calls
- Vandalism: 28 calls
When it comes to violent crimes, Rosling shared a lot of their officers and detectives are assigned to various taskforces, the FBI, Safe Streets, and take part in the project Safe Neighborhood.
“All of those different task forces and things where we work with other agencies really contribute to our ability to fight violent crime,” Rosling said.
Another concerning trend, DUI’s are slightly up at 462 reports, which is equivalent to at least 1 DUI every day of the year.
A big challenge the department faces—being down by nine officers right now.
“With grant funding we were able to bring in a DUI specific officer—that is all he deals with, and we feel like that is a great move in the right direction,” Rosling said.
One of their main focuses this year is fentanyl.
“The fact that 2019 was the first year that we had a fentanyl seizure, and we’ve gone from the dosage unit volume that we have seen over the last couple of years,” said Rosling. “It has gone from 800 to 12,000 in 2022, and then we’re over 31,000 dosage units seized in 2023, so we’ve got to do more to get a grip on that.”
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