Havre sees drop in misdemeanors, new equipment in police department

Havre Police Chief Gabe Matosich presented the Havre City Council with the police department’s 2017 Annual Report at their meeting Tuesday night.

The report said that calls for service to the department were 23,638, up from 22,339 the year before.

Police made 1,582 arrests in 2017, a drop from 1,658 in 2016. Criminal offenses were 1,398, down from 1,418 in 2016, the report says. Police responded to 314 accidents, up from 80 in 2016.

The report says police last year responded to 73 incidents of individuals driving under the influence, up from 71 in 2016. There were 27 motor vehicle thefts reported, compared to 19 in 2016, while incidents of theft rose from 351 in 2016 to 526 last year.

Police responded to 69 aggravated assaults last year, up from 52 in 2016. Reported robberies also increased from one in 2016 to eight last year.

Police responded to 58 burglaries last year, the report says, up from 53 in 2016, while rapes went up from 15 in 2016 to 16 last year.

There were no homicides reported either last year or in 2016, the report says.

Havre Police, the report says, served 244 arrest warrants last year, down from 387 in 2016. Felony cases investigated by Havre police rose from 300 in 2016 to 363 last year, while misdemeanor cases fell from 2,980 in 2016 to 2,778 last year.

The drop in misdemeanor cases, Matosich said, was due to efforts to educate the public and neighborhood watch, along with proactive police work.

The report also detailed the activities and work of the department in the last year. Matosich told the council that last year the department upgraded equipment and remodeled the city’s 911 center.

“So we have all new equipment, new state-of-the-art equipment,” Matosich said.

The upgrades, he said, were paid for mostly through grants.

Havre police also launched the Code Red emergency alert system. Matosich said the program allows the department in an emergency to reach the public through text message, similar to Amber Alert, where people receive texts when a child is reported missing.

“So it’s a pretty neat program that allows us to do that,” Matosich said.

Last year there were also changes in national crime reporting, Matosich said. Officials from the state, he said, came to show officers how to properly record crime data using new procedures.

The department last year also joined the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Matosich said Investigator Brian Cassidy has been assigned to the task force.

Matosich said that in May the city also hosted the Montana Law Enforcement Memorial Day Parade, an event meant to mark National Peace Officers Memorial Week.

The department last year also started an internship program with Montana State University-Northern, where several students came to the department and helped out for several hundred hours in exchange for credit hours, Matosich said.

A couple of the department’s firearms instructors are receiving less-than-lethal training, which Matosich said will afford officers more options than lethal force if a situation should arise.

Policy is being developed and equipment is being ordered, Matosich said, and the department hopes to have its officers undergo training this coming spring.

In the coming months, Matosich said, the department should have the equipment in place to allow the department to receive 911 calls in the form of text messages.

The technology, Matosich said, will allow people who are in a situation where they can’t make a call, to text the department in the event of an emergency.

Matosich said the system should be up and running in a couple months. The department will then undergo training and policy will be crafted, before the department will teach the public how to use it.

In other business, the council voted 7-0 to approve a Havre/Hill County Historic Preservation Commission grant application.

Council member Ed Matter was absent.

The council also voted 7-0 for a Community Development Block Grant draw down of $78,615.88 for renovations for the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line.

The next council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, March 5.