PF police chief offers crime insights

POST FALLS — Police Chief Greg McLean handcuffed some fake news this week.

After City Council members received an email from a concerned citizen about an alleged spike in crime in the city, McLean felt compelled to set the record straight. The email suggested a correlation between the city's increase in population and a “huge increase in crime,” he said.

McLean looked at the years 2019 through 2022, and at Tuesday night's council meeting, he highlighted crime categories that he said are of interest to most people.

Population rates have grown steadily. In 2019 it was about 33,000. In 2020, it grew by 16% to 38,500; in 2021 it increased 2.5% to about 39,452. And now, two months into 2022, the population is about 42,000 — a further increase of 6.4%.

The city had 280 assault cases in 2019, he said, with a spike in 2020 to 321 cases. However, the number went down to 301 in 2021.

“We started to see COVID impact coming into these crime rates,” McLean said. “So you had people who were debating between masks and no masks. People were angry and trying to get into some confrontations in certain areas.”

Burglaries are broken into two categories: non-residential burglary, where someone breaks into a shed or vehicle, for example, and residential, which is an attempt, or a forced, unlawful entry into a residence.

In 2019, there were 56 burglary cases, which jumped to 94 in 2020. Again, 2021 saw a reduction — to 75 cases. Many of the crimes were committed on construction sites, McLean said.

“They were breaking into trailers and stealing equipment,” he said. “It’s starting to calm down a little bit, but not much.”

Rates of larceny, or theft of personal property, across three years show that 2021 had the highest rate, with 530 cases. 2019 saw 488 cases and 2020 had 448.

“Again, in 2021, you’ve got all these construction sites where they’re leaving their saws out,” McLean said. “We were seeing a huge rash of that, at that particular time.”

Vehicle theft cases in 2019 were 36. 2020 had the highest rates, with 48 cases. 2021 saw a decrease, to 21 cases.

Arrest rates for misdemeanor crimes in 2019 were the highest, with 522 cases. 2020 saw a decrease to 267, and in 2021, the number was up to 376 cases.

“Where we saw some adjustment was in 2020 and 2021,” McLean said. “We had a law change. That change prohibited us from making an arrest on a misdemeanor if it didn’t happen in our presence, where before we could, under certain categories, like domestic violence.”

COVID affected misdemeanor arrest rates as well. The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office had requested Post Falls police make more citations followed by release of the suspect, McLean said.

Felony arrests across the three years actually decreased slightly. 2019 saw 284 arrests, 2020 had 244 and 2021 had 234 felony arrests.

Rates of driving under the influence were the highest in 2019, with 240 cases. 2020 saw a significant drop to 160. DUIs were up slightly in 2021, with 185 cases.

McLean thinks that during the height of the COVID pandemic, more people were staying home to drink.

When looking at calls for service, McLean included statistics for 2022. To bring the most current perspective to the data, McLean looked at the same time frame for each year between 2019 and 2022, from Jan. 1 through Feb. 14.

Service call rates to the police department show a fairly steady level of crimes committed despite the population increase.

By Feb. 14, 2019, the department had received 3,859 calls. That time frame for 2020 saw 4,134 calls, and in 2021 it was 3,786. So far in 2022, the department has received 3,902.

Total service calls for 2019 were 34,475. In 2020, the department fielded 33,913 calls and 2021 saw 36,742 total calls.

McLean shed some light on violent crimes, too.

“Over the last couple of months we’ve been getting hit pretty heavy when it comes to violent crimes,” he said.

Contrary to some opinion, however, the suspects are longtime local residents, not newcomers, McLean said.

This month, an attempted murder/suicide occurred on the 100 block of West 16th Avenue. One man was pronounced dead at the scene. The suspect in the case had been a Coeur d’Alene resident since 2006.

Also this month, during a forced entry home invasion, suspect Francis Gunseor allegedly shot a man and a woman. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Post Falls Police believe the suspect knew the victims. Gunseor has been a Coeur d’Alene resident since 2002.

In December, a shooting occurred near the Conoco Gas Station at the corner of Poleline Avenue and Highway 41. Suspect Tisen Sterkel allegedly pulled in, loaded a gun and opened fire on several vehicles. Two individuals were injured and transported to Kootenai Health for medical care. Sterkel has lived in the Spokane and Newport, Wash., area since 2009.

“Most of these violent crimes are really occurring with locals right now,” McLean said. “I’m not seeing out-of-state stuff that’s bringing the spike in crime forward.”