Idaho County grapples with ‘explosion’ of drug crimes

GRANGEVILLE — Law enforcement officials in Idaho County have noticed a surge in drug-related offenses over the past year, what one former official termed as an “explosion” of drug crimes.

Idaho County Prosecutor Kirk A. MacGregor said his office is currently handling three to four times as many drug cases as in the previous year.

“This last year has been the busiest year with crime,” MacGregor said. “Every year it increases. I think we’re really seeing a problem with drug addiction. I think drug addiction is just out of control in this area.”

Enhanced law enforcement is a likely reason for much of the uptick. Idaho County Sheriff Doug Ulmer said his officers are becoming more attuned to the signals of drug use and trafficking in this area and are doing more investigations that lead to arrests.

In addition, the department is being aided by three K-9 drug-sniffing dogs that have alerted for drugs during several routine traffic stops recently.

“Those dogs are worth their weight in gold,” Ulmer said. “They have the ability to be anywhere the public is and we’re just utilizing them. A lot of times, the dogs give you an opportunity that you’ll never get without them.”

Statistics for 2022 drug and narcotics violations in Idaho County weren’t immediately available. According to the Idaho State Police Uniform Crime Reporting website, there were 70 drug/narcotics offenses in 2021; down from 119 such offenses in 2020.

There are other reasons for the growth in drug offenses. Both MacGregor and Ulmer point to the influx of people moving into Idaho County. USA Facts listed the county’s population in 2021 as 17,040, up 4.5% from 16,311 in 2010.

“You’ve got the good and the bad that move here,” MacGregor said. “If it’s the bad crowd, they’re used to the softer penalties in the other surrounding states and I think they get caught off-guard coming to Idaho. Because Idaho’s a lot tougher than Washington, Oregon, California and even Montana.”

MacGregor said that the policy of decriminalizing or lessening the penalties for hard drugs in neighboring states is a problem that carries over into Idaho County.

“So what has that done?” he asked. “I see in the paper almost every day (stories about) record homeless deaths. In these other states, you’ve got this massive homelessness problem, unemployment issues. It’s also created mental health issues, domestic issues.

“There are parental issues where children are being abused and neglected. If the parents are doing meth most of the day and high on meth, they can’t be a good parent.”

MacGregor said in the child protective cases he prosecutes where a parent’s rights have to be terminated, 90% of the time the parents are addicted to drugs.

And 80% to 90% of other crimes in Idaho County, such as thefts, burglaries, robberies and domestic violence, he said, are linked to drug addiction and trafficking.

“So the softening of penalties for drugs, in my opinion, has really greatly backfired. This plan to decriminalize drugs and soften penalties is not working.”

The drugs coming into Idaho County are likely being transported from the Tri-Cities area in Washington, MacGregor said, with some from Mexico. They include methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and heroin.

“So you’re dealing with a lot more issues and a lot more potent drugs,” Ulmer said. He said some people who were not being investigated for offenses “have passed away because they have gotten hold of fentanyl or something like that.”

According to Idaho County Coroner Cody Funke, there were three recorded drug overdose deaths in 2022; none in 2021.

“You hate to see Idaho County start to have more of the big city problems,” the sheriff added. “But I think a lot of the problems have been here. I think that the officers, on a case-by-case basis, are dealing with it a lot better.”

Yet, despite the growing problem and Idaho County’s ranking as the largest geographic county in Idaho, resources to deal with drug issues are few. There are no mental health or drug courts in Idaho County. There is no probation office in the county — the one probation officer assigned to work with Idaho County cases lives in Clearwater County.

First-time offenders are usually given probation, but without supervision, MacGregor said, it seldom is successful in keeping the person away from drug interactions.

The solutions are elusive.

“I think law enforcement’s doing well,” he said. “We’re able to make a dent. I think stiffer penalties are a deterrent. I think many people do consider what the consequences are before they do something. If they see that nothing is happening to them, why not? Why not keep using?

“If you decriminalize drugs, that help (in the court system) is not there anymore,” MacGregor said. People “need that supervision to get better because once they’re addicted, they’re not going to get better on their own. They need help. I just think this whole thing in our whole society, as states have gotten softer on drug crime, it’s just really had a detrimental effect on society.”

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.