BOZEMAN — Police in Bozeman had a busy weekend, but the calls they responded to didn’t just increase in numbers, but intensity as well. So, are locals seeing this uptick?
“I've still, even today, never had anything stolen. Even living in the trailer park where you expect some things like that to happen,” says Ty Linnell.
Ty has lived around the Bozeman area since 2010, after moving down from Eureka to attend Montana State University. Now living with his wife and two kids, Ty says recently, crime has become more concerning.
“The boys were riding up and down the sidewalk on their bikes like they usually do. And a white Jeep that we didn't recognize in the neighborhood came through," he says.
Ty says the jeep kept driving by his wife and kids: “They made another trip, turned around, and made another trip. And at that point, she knew something wasn't right. Nothing came of it. You just get a bad feeling occasionally."
Ty tells me incidents, such as this have happened on more than one occasion, leaving him and his wife with an unsettling feeling.
I met up with Bozeman Police Detective Captain, Dana McNeil, to see what’s going on.
“You know, I've responded to calls of space aliens and all sorts of ridiculous stuff,” says McNeil. “But the culture of our community, and just the types of calls we're seeing today really just differ from where we were 20 years ago. It’s just a different city."
McNeil has been with the Bozeman Police Department for 20 years and has watched crime not only increase but become more intense.
Over the weekend, Bozeman Police made arrests for aggravated kidnapping, methamphetamine possession, and five arrests of assault. Pretty different from space aliens.
“We’ll get criticism, somebody sees a violation happen right in front of an officer. Somebody runs through a red light, right? But the officer doesn't do anything about it. Well, a lot of the time it’s because the officer's on their way to another call that they have to prioritize,” says McNeil.
McNeil says police don’t have time for proactive work in the community like they used to for a number of reasons, number one being a lack of staff.
But community members such as Ty want to see change.
“I wish I had a better relationship with law enforcement. Maybe we could start coordinating with our police better? I don't know how we do that,” he says.
To this? Captain McNeil says, “We always ask the citizens to be good witnesses. We really depend on the public's help in solving crime. And let us be involved. We can't help you if you don't call us and let us know what's going on”.
