KCSO sees Theft, DUIs go up in Hayden

The rates of theft, vehicle theft and burglaries in Hayden increased from 2021 to 2022 according to data from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, which is something KCSO hopes to alleviate with the onboarding of three new deputies around May.

“Historically, we have been more reactive than proactive in Hayden because of deployment,” said Lt. Zachary Sifford, public information officer for KCSO.

There are increases in overdoses and drug use across Kootenai County, with fentanyl use on the rise, but the crime numbers in Hayden don’t reflect that.

“Overdoses overall are up,” Sifford said. “We know there’s a drug problem here.”

There are drug crimes the sheriff’s office is missing in Hayden because they are understaffed, Sifford continued.

Law enforcement is typically only charging drug crimes based on calls for service, and not based on proactive policing, like vehicle searches or targeted patrolling.

Drug offenses are the largest crime in Hayden by volume, with 181 offenses in 2022, and that’s only up from 180 in 2021. Hayden drug numbers are flat, even though county-wide drug offenses are up.

Theft was the second most frequent crime in 2022 with 166 charged offenses, up 15% over 2021. And the third crime by volume was DUIs, with 79 in 2022, up 46%.

Looking at the total offenses for all crimes in Hayden from 2021 to 2022, there was an increase of just under 4%, including Part-1 and Part-2 crimes.

Part-1 crimes are defined by the FBI and include murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson, human trafficking, commercial sex acts, or involuntary servitude. Part-2 crimes are virtually any other crimes.

Part-1 crimes alone increased by nearly 19% in Hayden from 2021 to 2022, but Part-2 crimes went down by less than 1%.

That crime rate staying flat does not indicate a reduction in crime, so much as a capacity for policing, Sifford said.

To break down some of the numbers, aggravated assault charges in Hayden went up from 17 to 23, though assault was down from 2021 to 2022. Child abuse increased from 14 to 20, or by 43%, and pornography increased from zero charges to three in the same time. DUIs in the city of Hayden increased by 46% year over year, from 54 to 79; and alcohol offenses increased from 15 to 26.

There were no robberies in Hayden for either 2021 or 2022.

Some crime statistics stayed flat, with five rape charges in both 2021 and 2022. Drug offenses, juvenile problems and weapons offenses also stayed relatively flat. Assault and aggravated assault have both trended slightly down, and intimidation offenses dropped by 59%.

Hayden voters approved a levy in the November 2022 election that would fund hiring six additional deputies from the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office for fiscal year starting October 2023, and city administrator Brett Boyer will begin collaborating with the KCSO to compose the contract for those deputies in May.

“The sheriff is excited to be the premier law enforcement agency for the city of Hayden,” Sifford said.

Money will also come in May to begin onboarding three of those six new deputies before levy dollars become available later this year.

Prior to passing the levy, the Hayden City Council approved a budgetary supplement that would pay salaries for three additional deputies for a short time, with the sheriff's office covering the onboarding costs, including equipment and training.

Those deputies can be hired starting in May to combat the increasing crime rates, depending on staffing availability and training. Even when the sheriff’s office is able to hire people in, it won’t likely see them in the field until they complete training, sometimes months later.

The sheriff's office is short staffed overall, so as it is able to hire and train more people, it will distribute coverage into Hayden.

The sheriff’s office is also competing with local policing agencies for recruits, which money for wages could possibly solve.

The end result of deputies entering the field over the coming year will hopefully be more proactive policing, which should begin to cause crime numbers to go down, Sifford said.

“We truly believe we will see a drop in those numbers,” he said.

But as deputies catch up to calls for service, those numbers could go up before they get better.