Area officials see crime increase - messenger-inquirer

The Owensboro Police Department and the Daviess County Sheriff’s Department experienced a slight increase in major crimes such as robberies and aggravated assaults, and an increase in thefts and burglaries during the first three months of 2017, compared the same period in 2016 and 2015.

Police officials cite the mild winter and drug use for at least a part of the increase.

Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain and OPD Major Brock Peterson discussed the crime statistics during a meeting last week with the Alliance for a Drug-Free Owensboro-Daviess County’s steering committee.

There were two incidents that resulted in murder indictments between Jan. 1 and March 28. In February, Preston T. Williams, 24, of the 600 block of Bolivar Street, and Donte M. Washington, 24, of the 1300 block of Bowie Trail, were indicted on murder charges in connection with the December shooting death of Jerard Fountain on Sycamore Street.

Last month, Salvador Avila-Navarrete, 47, of the 700 block of Breckenridge Street was indicted for murder in the January death of Jose Gomez in a Breckenridge Street home. There were no murder indictments during the same time period in either 2016 or 2015.

There were 30 robbery reports between Jan. 1 and March 28 this year, compared to 11 such reports in 2016 and 10 in 2015. Aggravated assaults also increased, with 31 reports during the period this year, compared to 26 reports last year and 24 in 2015.

Although the actual numeral increase is small, violent crimes increased 27.08 percent between January and late March compared to 2016. Property crimes such as burglary and thefts increased 10.35 percent this year compared to the first quarter of 2016, with the largest increase being in thefts. There were 455 theft reports between January and late March this year, compared to 409 last year.

Burglaries also increased slightly, with the agencies receive 126 burglary reports, compared to 117 in the first quarter of 2015.

Some crimes, however, went down. Rape reports decreased, with agencies receiving eight reports between January and March this year, compared to 11 last year and 13 in 2015. After seeing a large spike in vehicle thefts between 2015 and 2016, the number of thefts of vehicles was largely the same this quarter as it was in 2016.

Various factors played a role in the increase in some crimes during this year’s winter months, Peterson said.

“We’ve had mild winter, more people are out (and there are) more opportunities for thefts and burglaries,” Peterson said.

In the increase in robbery reports, “a lot of those are quite honestly drug deals that go bad,” Peterson said.

Drugs are the root cause of most crimes in the county, Cain said.

“All of our criminal activity, (or) a great deal ... is based on the use of these drugs,” Cain said.

In terms of drug offenses, no one was charged with any heroin-related offenses between January and March, and there were only two cocaine-related offenses. Prescription drug offenses, however increased, with 59 reports during the first few months of this year, compared to 41 reports during the same period last year.

On the other hand, there were 87 charges of possession of methamphetamine and 24 charges of meth trafficking. There were also seven charges for manufacturing methamphetamine -- something that is relatively rare. Law enforcement officials have said previously that most of the methamphetamine found in the city and county is crystal meth brought into the region by drug cartels.

Cain said, back when most meth was made by local labs, “we worked seven labs a day.”

Compared to the old days, meth manufacturing “is almost nonexistent,” Peterson said.

Finally, there were two cases of trafficking in synthetic cannabinoids this year, and 11 charges for fake marijuana possession. Peterson said there is not a regular supply of synthetic marijuana coming into the city, but detectives do hear of sporadic batches hitting the street.

Synthetic cannabinoids, which go by “K2,” “Spice” and other names, is dangerous, Peterson said.

“We had four ODs (overdoses) in one day on Spice,” Peterson said.

The person believed is have supplied the Spice is being sought by police, Peterson said.

“People who don’t normally use it start smoking it, and have no idea” of the risks, he said.

James Mayse 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse

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